RESIDENTS are being urged to have their say on the allocation of financial resources by Hampshire County Council between 2016 and 2018.

Hampshire County Council has launched its “Shaping Hampshire – Spending Review Consultation” with comments received during the consultation, which runs until July 6, being used to inform the provision of local services from April 2016 onwards.

The consultation builds a picture of the financial position ahead, and asks residents and stakeholders for their views on how the county council could manage an anticipated shortfall in funding of around £98million.

The anticipated £98million of required savings, due mainly to continued reductions in central Government grant, comes on top of £240million savings the county council has already delivered since 2008.

This has been achieved in a number of ways including sharing and selling services, reducing office space and energy bills and maximising the use of digital technology.

Early action taken in 2008 to reductions in funding from central Government, which is now less than half the level it was four years ago, has helped to protect frontline services.

However, with less funding from Government and increasing demand for the services the county council provides, the local authority is reviewing key areas of spend and service activity with a focus on identifying different ways of delivering services more efficiently and at lower cost, in order to reduce the overall budget spend.

The consultation invites residents and stakeholders to comment on the early ideas from this exercise.

It also asks residents on their thoughts on the county council’s approach to setting the level of council tax and the use of its reserves.

However, because increasing council tax and using reserves differently are, on their own, unlikely to meet the funding shortfall, residents and stakeholders are asked to consider the options within service budgets and to rank them in order of priority.

The findings of the consultation will be considered by the local authority in October 2015 when decisions are made on the money available for the years between 2016 and 2018, and will be followed, where necessary, by a series of more specific consultations later this year.

To take part in the survey, visit hants.gov.uk/spendingreviewsurvey.