An audit prompted councillors to ask about the risk of Brighton and Hove City Council being unable to set a balanced budget next year. Independent councillor Pete Atkinson said that the annual auditors’ report to the end of March last year indicated that the council faced a risk of a “section 114 notice” being issued. A section 114 notice is issued when a council can’t pay its bills or set a balanced budget and would halt council spending, unless permitted by the council’s finance chief. Councils can’t go “bankrupt” in the same way as a business but they are required by law to set a balanced budget. The annual “budget council” meeting – where all 54 councillors are charged with setting the budget – is due to take place on Thursday 26 February.