An Ipswich councillor has warned of hard decisions ahead and that the authority "could run out of money" in the coming years. 

The warning comes following the announcement of Suffolk County Council’s forecast overspend of £22.3m to be discussed next Tuesday.

This comes as Birmingham City Council has become the latest local authority to issue a formal section 114 notice relating to financial distress.

The report released by Ipswich’s executive highlighted adverse increases of nearly £1m in its Housing Revenue Account and £1.95m in its General Fund.

The report highlighted the fact the council had identified “over 100 potential cost-saving ideas” for medium-term governance, and would also focus on improving internal efficiency.

Ipswich Star: Cllr Martin Cook, portfolio holder for resources at IBC.Cllr Martin Cook, portfolio holder for resources at IBC. (Image: Martin Cook)

Cllr Martin Cook, the portfolio holder for resources, told councillors at Tuesday's executive meeting: “If we were to continue on this kind of path as a council, we would run out of money sometime in about one year and a half — our reserves would be gone.

“This is a situation that we have been dealing with for some time. It’s getting harder, it’s getting tougher to deal with these things.”

Nationally, the Local Government Association reported local councils in England “face a funding gap of almost £3bn over the next two years just to keep services standing still”.

Cllr Cook continued: “We’re not alone in grappling with the financial challenges that have been thrown at all local authorities, mainly because of inflation.”

Ipswich Star: Cllr Ian Fisher said the current pressures were also due to an 'unrealistic budget'.Cllr Ian Fisher said the current pressures were also due to an 'unrealistic budget'. (Image: Archant)

However, Cllr Ian Fisher, of Castle Hill ward, said the current pressures were also due to an ‘unrealistic budget’.

He said: “I’m quite perturbed that we are so far out in a lot of our predictions.
“A number of times over the past two years, we have been told that difficult decisions are down the road, I’m yet to see any of them, and my worry is that we’re putting them off.

“A lot of the narrative around Birmingham is that they haven’t faced up to a lot of problems and left things too late.”

Cllr Cook retorted by saying these financial pressures have been building up during the last decade.

He said: “Difficult decisions have been made as and when they’ve been needed.

“Inflation has been higher for longer than what was anticipated and that is fundamentally what has driven the pressure in our budget.

“We do know the kind of approaches and strategies that will deal with this deficit over time.”