Our resources
Where the Council's funding comes from in 2025/26
The funding the council will use to provide services in 2025/26 comes from various sources including
| Our resources | £000s |
|---|---|
| Business Rates | -49,340 |
|
Council Tax
|
-117,457 |
| Government grants
| -52,241 |
| Dedicated schools grants
|
-104,028 |
|
Fees, charges, contributions and other specific grants
|
-106,971 |
|
Reserves and balances
| 1,757 |
| Total resources | -428,279 |
Some of the services we charge for are discretionary. This means that councils are not under an obligation to provide them and they could be provided by a commercial organisation or a community group or partnership. In such cases, it is the council's policy that the people who choose to use those discretionary services should help to pay directly for what they use. Consultation results have supported this principle and feedback has discouraged the use of subsidy from council tax to pay for discretionary services such as Leisure Centres and Harbours. As a result, there is now a clear intention to move some of those discretionary services towards a more commercial business model where they are fully self funding and effectively receive £0 subsidy.
However, alongside this approach, all councils have to balance the level of charges which the market will bear. As well as recognising the council's wider role in supporting people to live active healthy lives, promoting tourism and the economy and ensuring the safety of our community. In addition, any form of trading by public services requires express statutory authority and so is governed by complex legislation.
Fees and charges information is available from within relevant
service based areas of the website.