What locality budgets can and cannot be used for

Whatever you spend your locality budget on must not have any ongoing revenue implications for the council’s budget.

What locality budgets can and cannot be used for

Whatever you spend your locality budget on must not have any ongoing revenue implications for the council’s budget.

The locality budget is a finite amount of money, set in the council annual budget. If the locality budget is spent on something that could subsequently require additional council budget or resources (bins that need emptying for example) this would be stepping beyond the allocated spend that has been given and committing the council to more financial risk and expenditure in the future, which existing policies do not allow the locality budget to do.

The locality budget which councillors receive annually needs to be spent on one off expenditure that does not require any additional outlay from the council's budgets or resources.

Can be used to/for:

  • enable or encourage communities, or support activities to bring communities together for events or activities
  • supporting vulnerable residents or the organisations and groups that support them locally is also an option
  • Planting or maintaining trees

The main thing to remember is that you are distributing public funds and as such you need to be able to justify, if asked, how you have chosen to spend the money within your Ward.

All spend is published on our website. If you are still not 100% sure you may wish to consider the following examples of what locality budgets can be spent on: 

  • For projects within a councillors ward, or for projects outside the ward where people from the ward can participate, eg providing a contribution towards a Community Centre outside the ward, but potentially used by constituents.
  • Community gardens, community centres
  • Enabling local groups, social / youth clubs
  • Supporting vulnerable residents or voluntary sector organisations
  • Community safety initiatives
  • Planting in communal areas
  • Match funding other eligible projects
  • Community events or activities
  • Environmental clear-up activities
  • One-off funding arrangements with no guarantee of funding in subsequent years.

Cannot be used for:

  • projects, activities or spend that has any ongoing revenue or cost implications for council resources; this includes budget and staffing resources. Examples include newly sited bins and benches on council land
  • activities for which the authority has no clear legal powers to fund, e.g. highways improvements
  • projects or activities that could impact on the council’s reputation or breach equality or safeguarding principles and law
  • caution is suggested when using locality budgets to supplement gaps in funding when there is no obvious longer-term sustainability, and clarity needs to be made around the one-off nature of the any locality budget funding at the outset
  • projects or activities that place any ongoing liability on the council