The Broads Authority has set its budget for the coming year, taking account of the reductions in its National Park Grant. The budget is based on a projected income of £6.695 million, just over £4 million from Government grant and £2.68 million from the charges levied on boat owners using the Broads.
It is hoped that a bid for €900,000 from Europe to support innovative approaches to dredging and a financial contribution to care for the How Hill National Nature Reserve will boost the Authority’s income.
The largest components in the expenditure of £6.9 million will be spent on dredging and maintaining the navigation area, over £1 million. The Authority is continuing with its planned programme to remove 50,000 metres3 of silt from the system per annum. Approximately £750,000 will be spent on managing the fragile fen areas for their conservation value and improving the water quality in isolated broads. Patrolling and looking after the rivers and broads and sites used by the public accounts for a further £620,000. The Authority’s grant-giving Sustainable Development Fund continues with £150,000 allocated for this purpose.
The preparation of the budget has been particularly difficult this year because of the scale of the projected reduction in Government Grant and the need to review the allocation of costs between its different lines of expenditure. The cutback in Defra's contribution to the Authority has consequences for the balance of activity within its work. A greater proportion of staff effort will be spent on navigation functions, and the contributions that National Park Grant and navigation income make to shared costs have had to be rebalanced. A system that favours navigation expenditure to the tune of around £30,000 compared to that set out in the agreement with the national boating organisations has been unanimously agreed by the Authority’s Navigation Committee and adopted by the Authority.
Historically navigation has been in a favoured position in that National Park Grant has subsidised navigation spending on the shared running costs. Now the Authority’s National Park Grant has been significantly reduced toll payers are being asked to pay their fair share alongside the conservation and recreation interests for which the Authority is equally responsible.
The Authority is planning to reduce the amount of shared cost activities, and staff, by more than the rest of the Authority's services, but has to continue to maintain them at the minimum level required to support both NPG and navigation functions.
A major restructuring involving moving from four directorates to two is under way. Thirty posts are being lost saving 10% (around £380,000) of the Authority’s annual salary bill. There are many more savings to achieve in the next 3 years as National Park Grant reduces as forecast.
The number of boats on the Broads has held up well and as a result navigation charges are increasing by just 2.5% for smaller boats and around 6% for the biggest boats on the Broads in 2011/12. The overall increase in toll income of 5% is less than was planned for in the Authority’s three year Financial Strategy for Navigation.
