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Lewisham Council sets budget for 2021

At a meeting of Full Council last night, Lewisham Council set its budget for the year following a round of budget cuts totalling £28 million.

Despite prudent financial management, we are being forced to confront a huge budget gap as a result of a decade of government cuts and underfunding, which has seen the Council’s budget cut by nearly half.

In January this year, we began a tough budget review to deliver the £40 million cuts needed over the next three years. A second round of cuts has now be considered, setting out a further £13 million of cuts, bringing the total cuts for next year to £28 million.

Lewisham is not alone in facing this challenge: across the country, local government now faces a £4 billion funding gap in 2021 to keep services running at today’s levels.

Despite the challenge, we remain ambitious and the budget for the year ahead sets out our priorities around tackling inequalities, particularly for Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority residents and ensuring that our most vulnerable residents receive the care and support they need.

Over the coming months, many residents will turn to us for even more support. We will continue to prioritise frontline services that make a big difference to people’s lives, from health and social care to our parks and green spaces and building new council homes.

Mayor of Lewisham, Damien Egan said:

“The failure from government to provide Lewisham with fair funding, combined with the financial impact of COVID, means once again we are forced to make further cuts. This has been a year like no other and there’s no doubt these cuts will leave us worse off.

“Despite this challenge, our budget is ambitious for Lewisham. We’ll be building more new council homes, leading the fight against the climate emergency and continuing our work to resettle refugees.”

Find out more about Lewisham’s budget challenge.

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