Greenwich Council has opened a consultation on its plans to set it's budget for 2021/22 in the face of "significant financial pressures" exacerbated by the pandemic.

The local authority says that council budgets have been "stretched like never before" in the fight against Covid-19, but they must now look forward to the challenges of 2021 and determine how limited resources should be spent.

"We must face the reality that once again we will have less money to spend on the services that we provide to you."

Council tax is likely to rise by a total 4.99%, the maximum allowed, but the rest of the measures have yet to be decided and the borough will be hoping to avoid following the same path as Bexley Council, which is facing over a hundred redundancies.

And so the council is after residents' views and ideas for the budget, and a consultation is up and running until January 17.

Cllr Chris Kirby, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, said: “The pandemic has shown how important council services are to our communities, but yet again the financial pressures we face in 2021 will be significant.

We will continue to focus on protecting the services that local people rely on and as always, those most in need will be our priority. We’re asking for residents’ views to help us identify what is important to you for the Council’s budget”.

The council has also complained that the timing of the financial settlement, which informs local government how much it'll receive in grants, which happened in the week before Christmas.

"We would never normally choose the festive season to run a consultation like this, but sadly we have no choice. We must set our budget and we need your views and ideas ahead of the difficult choices we will need to take."

The labour authority points out that since 2010, the money received from government has been reduced significantly, with austerity and increased costs means the council faces an estimated £150m pressure on budgets.

Significant financial and manpower resources will also be required to deliver the council's carbon neutral plan by 2030.

You can find the consultation here.