Crawley Borough Council has had to use more than £1m of reserves to balance its budget for 2024/25. The £1.06m was less than forecast thanks to an extra £137,031 received from the government as part of its financial settlement for the year. Leader Michael Jones called the budget ‘solid’ and pointed out that the council currently receives £8.9m less from the government in real terms than it did in 2010, with its spending power dropping by 69 per cent.