North Yorkshire Council will utilise AI to help cut costs and balance its budget, says a senior councillor responsible for the authority’s finances.
Councillor Gareth Dadd, deputy leader and executive member for finance and resources, said he was hopeful that front-line services would not be hit despite the authority reporting a £20m loss in funding from the government’s recent settlement.
Senior councillors will meet next week to discuss the council’s budget for 2026/27 amid warnings that “tough decisions” will need to be made due to the shortfall.
Although the authority will see an increase in its core spending power of around £101m over the next three years, council chiefs say this rise is driven entirely by the assumption that it will increase council tax by 4.99 per cent in each year.
Cllr Dadd said the loss of further funding following the scrapping of the rural services delivery grant last year was a blow, but he welcomed the move to a new three-year settlement rather than the previous annual allocation.
He said:
“We might not be happy with the settlement, but at least we know where we are.
“The challenge now is to protect the front-line services and squeeze out as much of the back, hidden costs as we can.
“Hopefully, with a clear sight of where we are over the next three years, the front-line will not be affected.”
But the councillor added:
“If we don’t stick to a sensible budget planning regime, we will be, I guarantee it, in the same position as those other authorities which are looking to increase council tax to the max and looking for special help from the government — in effect bankrupt.”
Cllr Dadd said the authority was only around 18 months old following local government reorganisation in 2023 and work was still ongoing to rationalise council services.
He added:
“Within a year or so, once we’ve sorted the front-line services out, we’ll be looking at back office efficiencies and utilising AI where it’s appropriate."
The senior councillor said he was confident capital projects already committed to would not need to be cut, while further investment in capital schemes as part of the authority’s ‘invest to save’ programme was also envisaged.
The councillor stressed that the council’s stable financial position was a result of the reorganisation which took place in 2023 involving the merger of the county’s district and borough councils with the old North Yorkshire County Council.
He added:
“Colleague up and down the country woud give their eye teeth to be in the position we’re in."
Members of the council’s executive will meet on Tuesday next week to discuss the proposed budget, which totals just over £650m for the forthcoming financial year from April 1.
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