Cash-strapped Cornwall Council has said it will have to make "difficult choices" when deciding on its budget at a cabinet meeting in Truro this week.
Despite some increased funding announced in the Autumn Statement in Westminster, the local authority has admitted there will still be a shortfall for the 2025-2026 financial year.
The council has a net annual revenue budget of £771m, which covers the cost of delivering a range of frontline services. But the local authority said it was faced with "increased demand and cost pressures" amounting to over £100m, including contractual inflation.
It is proposing to make £49m of savings to deliver a balanced budget of £829m for next year.
Cllr David Harris, deputy leader of Cornwall Council and portfolio holder for resources, said: “We have already had to deliver £143m of savings in the past five years, and now the twin pressures of static funding and rising costs and demand mean that we need to identify more.
“It means difficult choices have to be made, where we have to look at all of our services and identify areas where we can increase efficiencies, reduce spending, and deliver a balanced budget. I am grateful to our officers, who have gone through our work with a fine toothcomb, and identified cost-saving measures which are achievable, whilst at the same time extremely challenging to deliver.
“The issue we have is simple, we have to balance the books or the problems we store up for the future will be even greater and an even greater impact on our residents. I have said it before and I will sadly no doubt say it again, the issues we face are fundamental, and need to be addressed by Westminster as soon as possible.
“Cornwall needs fairer funding, and it needs multi-year settlements so we can plan our budgets for the years ahead, rather than having this annual scramble to cut costs to meet ever-tougher budgetary challenges.”
The meeting, which will take place at 10am on Wednesday, 13 November, in the Trelawny Room at County Hall (Lys Kernow), will also see the cabinet discuss issues including the Langarth Business Plan; a council homes update; and the Housing Decarbonisation Strategy.
Cllr Linda Taylor, leader of Cornwall Council, added: “I am so grateful for the hard work of our officers and Cllr Harris in getting this budget prepared for us to discuss under such challenging circumstances.
“There will be difficult decisions to be made, but they will be taken only after we have examined all of the details and, of course, we will always act in the best interest of our residents at all times.”
The meeting is open to the public or can be watched by a webcast service online.
