HAMPSHIRE residents have a crucial opportunity to influence important decisions about how Hampshire County Council services are delivered in the future – by responding to its ‘Serving Hampshire – Balancing the Budget’ consultation.

The survey is about county council services delivered to more than 500,000 Hampshire households – including social care to vulnerable adults and children, education, roads, waste recycling and tips, and libraries.

Due to national austerity measures, higher demand for some services, and inflationary pressures, the county council is facing an anticipated £140million shortfall in its budget by April 2019.

With less money available and growing demand for council services, tough decisions will be needed about what the county council can and cannot do in the future.

There are several high-level options on which Hampshire is collecting feedback, including potential changes to services, further ways to generate income, use of reserves, potential increases to council tax and changing local government in Hampshire.

At this stage, the council is not proposing specific changes to services, just examples of possible options and will be using residents’ views to develop future proposals on which there will be more detailed public engagement.

The county claims listening first, before taking major decisions about the future, remains its commitment to the people of Hampshire.

Faced with its biggest financial challenge to date, the county council is encouraging residents to share their views.

Leader Roy Perry said: “Feedback is helpful in shaping important decisions about the services delivered to over 1.3 million Hampshire residents, every single day. That’s why we’re inviting people to share their views with us on how the county council can balance its budget.”

The consultation closes at 11:59pm, on Monday, August 21.

It can be completed online at www.hants.gov.uk/consultations.

Copies are also available from libraries while paper response forms should be returned in the Freepost envelope provided or sent to Freepost Hampshire.