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Councillor sees red over state of county’s finances
Western Gazette
|October 09, 2025
SOMERSET Council's finances have “more red lights flashing than a red light district’, according to one Conservative councillor.
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The council declared a financial emergency in November 2023 and has relied on support from central government to balance its budget in both 2024 and 2025.
Despite this support, the council currently faces a budget gap of just over £45m for the current financial year - with next year’s budget gap rising to just over £101m, and the gap projected to exceed £190m by 2029/30. To close this gap, the council has invested £20m (raised from the sale of surplus assets) on its transformation programme, bringing in external consultants to change how it delivers front-line services - as well as pouring more than £1.5m into AI to improve productivity.
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