Affordable homes built down by 11.9%

The Draft Statement of Accounts for Bristol City Council, for the year ended 31 March 2025 have been published.

Bad News

• New homes built down by 10% (from 1,599 to 1,433)
• Affordable homes built down by 11.9% (from 607 to 535)
• Households in temporary accommodation increase by 5.7% (from 1,593 to 1,685)

Good News

• Passenger bus journeys increased by 6.7% (from 37.2m to 39.7m)
• Waste per household "landfilled" down by 33.7% (31.1kg to 20.6kg)

Other Highlights

Bristol’s core spending power per head of population is below comparable cities and similar councils, and we have a heavier reliance on council tax and business rates. Bristol has the highest council tax rates in the South-West, due to the disproportionate demands on our services as the main city in this region. This is a critical backdrop to the overall position that Bristol is managing and has a direct impact on our ability to provide the services that people need.

The highest area of risk to the financial resilience of the council compared to other similar authorities is the proportion of budget spent on social care services as this is seen as an inflexible cost which is difficult to reduce over short term and impacts on the council’s ability to respond with agility to changing demands.This indicator is extremely important in terms of the council’s ability to respond to extreme shocks, such as that recently experienced in relation to the pandemic and cost of living crisis. The council’s need for greater resilience to risk that may emerge from the budget, needs to be considered and addressed over the medium term.