Barnet residents should know by late February the full extent of the expenditure cuts which will have to be imposed by the borough council to reduce a looming budget deficit which could still top £50million.

Such is the size of the potential financial shortfall that the council is already proposing a council tax increase of 4.98 per cent for 2025-26.

This would be made up of a 2.98 per cent increase in general council tax plus an additional 2 per cent which would be added to meet the cost of adult social care.

In addition to the 4.98 per cent rise proposed by Barnet Council, residents will also have to pay the Greater London Authority levy.

Therefore, the total council tax increase for 2025-26 is likely to match or exceed the 5.8 per cent increase which was applied for the 2024-25 financial year.

Some cost savings have already been implemented from the start of 2025.

All pay and display machines at car parks – see above at Moxon Street -- have been taken out of service.

Copies of daily newspapers are no longer being provided at libraries. However, some newspapers are available to library users to see online

Residents can have their say on the spending cuts and proposed council tax increases in a budget consultation which continues until 22 January.

https://www.engage.barnet.gov.uk/budget-consultation-2025-26

To balance its 2025-26 budget the council needs to find £74.2 million partly because of rising demand for expensive children’s and adults’ services.

Council departments have identified £22 million worth of cuts and additional sources of revenue.

The precise size of the remaining budget shortfall – currently estimated at £52 million – will depend on a government settlement for 2025-26.

Final decisions on the budget for the next financial year will be decided at a meeting on 25 February.

As from 2 January all pay and display machines at Barnet Council car parks were taken out of service – a decision which will deliver a saving of £86,000 in maintenance costs over the coming year and a long-term saving of £500,000 in future replacement and maintenance costs.

In future all car park users will have to pay by phone or text by the PayByPhone App or by paying in cash at more than 100 retailers in the borough which offer the PayPoint service.

 According to the council only 7 per cent of transactions at its car parks in 2023-24 made use of the pay and display machines for credit card payments.

Withdrawal of the ability to pay by credit card, following the removal of the payment by cash facility, will disappoint some drivers, especially the elderly, who find it difficult to use the PayByPhone App.

Ceasing to provide copies of national newspapers in libraries will be another blow, especially for library users who cannot afford the cost of purchasing a daily paper.

Library users will be able to go on line to read The Guardian, Daily Telegraph, and Daily Mail.

Another cost-saving measure that might be introduced in the borough’s libraries is an even greater reliance on self-service opening or a further reduction in opening hours.