District Council could move to County Hall

Cost-cutting at East Herts District Council could see the local authority sell its Hertford base at Wallfields and move in to nearby County Hall.

The move is amongst a number of measures being considered by the council as it grapples with a budget shortfall caused by the cost-of-living crisis.

Other measures to balance the books include increasing Council Tax by 3% and extending working-from-home for council employees.

A report to the District Council's Executive Committee by Councillor Geoffrey Williamson, Deputy Leader of the Council and Executive Member for Financial Sustainability, warns that the authority could be looking at a real terms cut in spending power of around 15–20% by the end of the 2024/25 financial year.

Delays in the Hertford Theatre project mean that the net income stream for the theatre has been moved back to 2025/26. The £1 million additional funding for weekly food collections has been moved from 2024/25 to 2025/26 to reflect the anticipated start of the new refuse, recycling and cleansing contract. In addition, a further £1 million has been added to the budget to meet potential increases in the contract costs going forward.

The council also faces recruitment and retention difficulties, particularly in services where there are national shortages of professionally qualified staff. 

Local authorities are required to set a balanced budget each year. The Local Government Finance Act 1992 requires councils to estimate revenue expenditure and income for the forthcoming year from all sources, together with contributions from reserves, in order to determine a net budget requirement to be met by government grant, Business Rates and Council Tax.