WINCHESTER City Council's budget is predicted to sink to a £5m deficit by 2030, figures show.

Speaking at a scrutiny committee on November 12, councillors expressed concerns over the WCC's Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) and the efficacy of the Transformation Challenge 25 (TC25) programme, which was make cuts to save £3 million per year by 2027.

Addressing the committee, made up of seven councillors, Conservative Councillor Godfrey said: "Government announcements have indicated that the uncertainty continues. It makes it a little easier to balance the books for next year, but we still have no idea about what happens after that."

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The projected WCC budget figures until 2030 (Image: WCC) "The five or six years going forward look very similar to what was presented last year: there's a cliff edge. A large expenditure hole of uncertainty, and where is the £17 million going to come from?"

Speaking of the TC25 programme, Councillor Godfrey also asked: "Is that enough? Is progress being made satisfactorily? Are we saving [the current requirement of] £820,000 a year on our net expenditure?"

He also stressed the committee's report emphasised the positive figures repeatedly while giving the "negative news" only one mention.

Councillor Neil Cutler, member of the Lib Dem cabinet for finance and performance, refused to respond to Cllr Godfrey's queries.

He said: "I'm here to respond to questions from the committee."

Later in the meeting, Councillor Caroline Brook, chair of the scrutiny committee, asked Cllr Cutler about the TC25.

She asked: "At what point will you decide whether TC25 is actually meeting its goals and might meet its goals before you go 'okay, we need to knock that on the head and move on to the next thing'?"

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Cllr Cutler replied: "Well, I don't think it will ever be a question of knocking it on the head and moving onto the next thing. Actually, TC25 is a process we set up as a series of projects running at the moment which the programme board looks at closely. [...]

"We also recognise that this will be an ongoing process, because the original TC25 was set up to save £3 million, and we actually need to save more than that and we will need a continuing process."

As it stands, the council's budget growth is predicted to slip increasingly into the negative, with a decrease of just under £600,000 next year, a number which may double by 2030.