Cut back on public toilets or increase evening car park costs? Cambridge City council consults on £3.5m budget gap

Cambridge residents are being asked to choose between a raft of money-saving measures including closing public toilets in the city, increasing evening car park costs and cutting CCTV costs to help balance the city council’s books.

Other suggestions include charging people from outside Cambridge more money than city residents to use council swimming pools - even if it is their nearest facility - and cutting back on grass mowing.

The council is also considering whether it should pass over some of the community centres it runs to community ownership, which could save up to £350,000 a year.

A consultation has been launched by the council on which services should be prioritised as it tries to set its budget for April 2025 to March 2026.

In September, the council recommitted to saving £6million annually by April 2026, outlining that £2.5m could be saved by making changes to the council’s organisational structure, and £3.5m by making changes to council services, such as implementing or increasing charges for some services.

Cllr Simon Smith, executive councillor for finance and resources, said: “Due to factors largely outside our control, including years of austerity and rising inflation, our operating costs are increasing, and our income is not keeping up. It is not sustainable for our outgoings to be higher than our income year after year, so we need to identify where we can increase our income and reduce our costs.

“Because of the work we’ve done to date, we still have the time to take a measured approach, focusing on modernising the way we work and finding efficiencies to bring down costs in the longer term, while having healthy reserves to draw on to help cover short-term costs.

“We are on the road to modernising the council, delivering efficient services and we are intent on being a best value authority that balances the books and puts us in a position to best benefit the communities we serve.

“What we’re doing now is seeking people’s views on the services we provide and what changes we could consider making, and we want to hear from as many people as possible before any decisions are made on the overall budget savings. This will allow us to make considered recommendations to full council.”

The council currently spends £97.2m per year to deliver a broad range of services in Cambridge. The council’s operating costs are paid for mainly from the income the council generates from fees and charges, council tax and business rates, commercial property rent, and government grants.

Charging is already in place for several council services, such as car parking and leisure activities, which brings in around £23m every year.

Raising fees at swimming pools and other leisure facilities could bring in around £140,000 a year.

The council is considering increasing fees and charges in some areas or starting to charge for some services which are currently free at the point of use. This would exclude any services that the council is required by law to provide for free, such as offering homelessness support.

The consultation relates to the £3.5m that could be saved by increasing fees and charges for council services, and by making changes to some of the discretionary services it offers.

Cllr Tim Bick (Lib Dem, Market), leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition, hit back at some suggestions put forward.

In a debate over the consultation at a meeting of the council’s executive on 22 October, he told the Labour leadership: “We believe that the public loos are a basic expectation of a local council. It is already a tendency of this council to turn away from less glamorous basic requirements in favour of more exciting projects, which appeal to politicians.

“You have already reduced public loos, in our opinion, too far and I am asking would you consider removing [the option to reduce public toilets] and instead focus on methods of investment to increase their security and ease of cleaning.”

Cllr Bick also raised concerns about the suggestion that the council could cut the amount of money it spends on CCTV.

He said the CCTV network in Cambridge was “critical to people’s sense of safety”.

And he said his group regarded the council’s sport and exercise facilities as “underpinning public health”.

He said: “Any measure which increases the hurdle to participate in sport and exercise for anyone actually costs us all.”

He urged the executive to change this consultation question to instead look at proposals to “expand participation as a means of increasing income to cover costs better”.

Cllr Martin Smart (Lab King’s Hedges), executive councillor for open spaces and city services, said he thought the basis of Cllr Bick’s question was “flawed”.

“I think consultation means consultation. You, Cllr Bick, cannot possibly know what people in this city want and nor can we, so let’s consult.”

Cllr Cameron Holloway (Lab, Newnham), executive councillor for community safety, homelessness and wellbeing, said: “We wanted to give a broad range of options, that is part of the purpose of this consultation.

“If we had only set out five or six options for savings and we are saying we are trying to save £6m over the next two years, then that is not giving the public a choice.

“What we wanted to do was give some context, give a range of options.

“It is ultimately going to be for councillors to decide, but it is for the public to have their say on what matters to them.

The short survey can be taken online at cambridge.gov.uk/budget between now and midnight on Wednesday, 4 December. To request the survey in another format, call 01223 457000.

Two further surveys have also been launched, asking more detailed questions about changes to car park provision and fees, and public toilet provision and fees. These are linked to from the budget survey or can be completed separately by visiting cambridge.gov.uk/parking-charges and cambridge.gov.uk/toilets.

Additional reporting: Hannah Brown, Local Democracy Reporter

The survey questions include:

Should the council consider reintroducing charging for parking in its car parks after 6pm?
Should the council charge higher prices for non-Cambridge residents who use the council swimming pools?
Should the council reduce the overall number of public toilets it manages?
Should the council reduce the frequency of mowing and leaf collection in some areas?
Should the council consider reducing the amount spent on CCTV cameras?
Should the council consider redeveloping or selling commercial properties that generate the least income?