Somerset County Council is to ask residents in Burnham-On-Sea to try their hand at balancing its budget.
The council’s will be holding a special roadshow event in Burnham on Friday, August 29th when residents will be invited to give their views on the increasing demand for council services at a time of significant reductions in funding.
The event will be held in Burnham’s Morrison’s car park in Pier Street from 8.30am-3pm.
Leader of Somerset County Council, Councillor John Osman, said: “This is a great opportunity for residents to give us their views and priorities as we face up to the challenges of the future.”
“We calculate that we will need to make around £30m of savings for the next financial year if we are to balance our budget. It’s difficult for the council to be everything to everyone in these tough financial times.”
“I am committed to making this a council that seeks people’s views and listens to them when making some of the difficult decisions that we face. Wherever possible we want to reflect what our residents want.”
Visitors can have a go at balancing the Council’s budget on a giant set of scales, with weights representing income on one side and service budgets on the other. There will also be a short questionnaire for people to answer. The same questionnaire will also soon be available online at www.somerset.gov.uk/listening
Representatives from the Council will also be on hand to answer questions and fun activities will be available to keep children entertained.
The council ran its ‘Listening, Learning, Changing Roadshow’ for the first time last year and more than 5,000 people came along to share their views.
