Shropshire Council's Big Conversation

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Shropshire Council LogoShropshire Council has invited the county’s residents to get involved its “Big Conversation”. This page on the Council’s website introduces the thinking behind the project and the text is copied below in full:

There are big challenges ahead – so we need a Big Conversation
We, alongside our partners, launched the Big Conversation at a meeting of Cabinet on Wednesday 28 October 2015.
The idea of a Big Conversation follows the significant financial challenges that we face as a result of years of cuts by central government to our funding.
These challenges are highlighted in our Financial Strategy 2015/16 – 2020/21.
Like all councils, we need to make further substantial savings in the coming years. Since 2009, we have removed £146m from our budget.
By 2021 the Government’s £44m revenue support grant – money that is paid to councils each year to help provide services – will end.
By the time this grant ends, it is estimated that we will need to save a further £77m, due to the combination of inflationary increases in costs and further cuts in government grants.
We have already started to make some headway to tackle the deficit, and have been working hard to find solutions to central government cuts by working with partners and the local community to redesign services and make them more cost effective, whilst maintaining quality.
As a result, our adult social care services, which represents a significant proportion of our budget, have been determined by external bodies as being the highest quality and the lowest cost. Our wholly-owned company, ip&e, continues to win significant external contracts that will generate profit to support the council and Shropshire communities.
We will continue to look at ways to raise income, redesign our services and work with local communities to run services themselves. However, this won’t make up for the funding that we expect to be cut by the government. Neither will it be able to meet cuts with efficiencies.
In a bid to raise public awareness of these challenges, as part of its Big Conversation, we will be talking and listening to residents and community groups about how best to face the tough financial challenges together.
An online survey is being planned for November and this will be followed up with talking to as many people as possible, conducting further more detailed surveys by email with a representative sample of the population, holding face to face meetings, holding public meetings and through focus groups.
For more information about the Big Conversation or to have your say, email us at bigconversation@shropshire.gov.uk.