Let’s Talk Money budget consultation

Our annual budget consultation - Let’s Talk Money – launched on 10 November to help pinpoint the key priorities for North Yorkshire Council’s budget for the next financial year. 

We are urging residents, businesses and stakeholders to help to shape North Yorkshire Council’s financial plans and outline their priorities for a host of services amid growing concerns over the impact of the Government’s reforms on local government funding.

The council is responsible for a wide range of essential services ranging from waste collection and recycling to providing social care, education and roads maintenance.

However, the authority is facing intense financial pressures in a situation mirrored across the local government sector, although the deeply rural parts of North Yorkshire mean that providing services to often remote communities increases costs significantly.

The survey will help to inform decisions on the 2026/27 budget and the Council Plan to 2030.

We spend about £1.3 billion every year delivering local services to people and businesses. These include:

• Supporting vulnerable people: 50 per cent of the council’s overall annual budget is used to fund support for vulnerable people, with the largest amount—32 per cent—going on adult social care and health. 
• Maintaining and upgrading essential infrastructure, including a major £82.5 million project to create a new stretch of the A59 at Kex Gill, addressing repeated landslips and improving transport links. 
• Providing social care and education, including a £3 million investment to increase specialist school places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). 
• Delivering leisure and wellbeing services, with 16 leisure venues across North Yorkshire, including 12 swimming pools. 
• Supporting more than 3,660 children and young people via the children and families service. 
• Collecting about 312,000 tonnes of waste from over 300,000 households each year, with approximately 43% reused, recycled, or composted.

We are also asking people to say how important our key priorities are to them.

Our key priorities are:

• Good quality affordable homes
• Promoting health and wellbeing
• Providing education
• Providing social care support
• Reducing the impact of climate change
• Supporting the local economy
• Getting around North Yorkshire 

Let’s Talk Money closes on 21 December 2025 - please share your views with the council and encourage your colleagues, communities, friends and family to do the same.

There are several ways to take part in Let’s Talk Money:

• You can fill in an online survey here.
• If you would prefer, you can pick up a paper copy from your local library or main local office and return it in the envelope provided.
• You can also email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 0300 131 2 131 (please say ‘Let’s Talk Money’ when prompted) to request a survey.
• You can request a survey by writing to:

Let’s Talk

North Yorkshire Council

County Hall

Northallerton

DL7 8AD

Accessible formats of the survey are also available on request.