A budget proposal guided by the principles of investing in the future of the area, protecting services to the public and freezing Council Tax has today been announced by the Council’s Cabinet.
The year 2014/15 is the second of a three year budget plan. Because the Council continues to be financially prudent and is delivering back office efficiencies, they are staying on course to deliver a balanced budget together with improvements for local communities for the future.
Councillor Paul Crossley (Lib-Dem, Southdown), Leader of Council, said: “The Cabinet will continue to prioritise community improvements that will create economic growth in the years to come.
“The Bath City of Ideas Enterprise Area, regeneration of Keynsham town centre and rejuvenation of the Somer Valley towns are mouth-watering opportunities that the Cabinet is striving to achieve to deliver new homes, new jobs and greater prosperity for people.
“Whilst delivering our regeneration plans, we maintain our focus on supporting the most vulnerable adults, children and families in society to achieve their potential, reflected in the fact that fifty pence in every pound of Council Tax that we collect is spent on vulnerable people, young and old.
“We are also protecting many day-to-day services that are important to residents. Street cleaners, weekly bin collections, supported buses, lollipop patrols, Recycling Centres, leisure centres, community meals and our library branches amongst many other services will continue to be protected.”
Councillor David Bellotti (Lib-Dem, Lyncombe), Cabinet Member for Community Resources, said: “It is excellent news that we are on course to achieve another year of no increases in Council Tax and we do not have to cut services to the degree that other town halls are proposing, although there are financial challenges to overcome in the final year of our budget planning in 2015/16.
“Through being prudent and financially responsible, the Cabinet is able to propose a further one-off £15 million capital investment to address some of the issues people think are important, like improving our road surfaces following the severe weather.”
Key points for the 2014/15 budget
- Additional capital investment proposed worth £15 million to deliver community improvements on top of those agreed in February 2013.
This includes better highway surfaces (extra £2 million taking total investment over the three year budget plan period to over £9 million), a Green Investment & Job Opportunities Fund (£1 million), better outdoor facilities for children and young people (£0.5 million) and cycling/ walking schemes (£250,000);
- Council Tax frozen for the fourth year running (£1,201.85 for a Band ‘D’ property);
- Investment of over £89 million in regeneration projects support new homes and new jobs for local people, including money set aside for rejuvenating Midsomer Norton Business Centre (£1.3 million);
- Funding reductions for services to the public over the three year period averaging 1.2%, equivalent to around £2.8 million, over those three years. Many frontline services continue to be protected;
- Off-street parking charges frozen for the fourth year running.
In response to concerns raised by the public the Cabinet is proposing:
- A £500,000 boost to the early years 0-11 budget to reduce the savings target from £2.3 million to £1.8 million due to come into effect in 2015/16. The additional funds will be spent on services specifically for vulnerable children and families;
- An additional £107,000 each year for two years to achieve the aims of the proposed adult advice and information strategy to provide advice services for the most vulnerable people in society;
- An extra £220,000 to support the upgrade of selected public conveniences across the area;
- An extra £100,000 for Public Protection to ensure that they meet their legal responsibilities for food inspections, trading standards and health and safety interventions.
- Despite a tough settlement, the Council is doing relatively well. The Government’s response to the financial crisis has resulted in a further 9.6% reduction in cash grant to the Council – equivalent to £5 million. Over the three year plan period, the Council will have had its funding reduced by £16.8 million. The financial challenges will continue for many years to come;
- Over three years, the local increase in the number of over-65s is projected to be 6.7% and the over-85s the figure is 7.7%. The birth rate in B&NES continues to rise and local data shows the rise to be greater than that projected by the Government. Numbers of live births in B&NES have been increasing over the past ten years from 1662 in 2001 to approximately 2,000 in 2012 – both factors mean an increasing demand on our services;
- The West of England City Region Deal offers the Council the opportunity to access part of an overall package of investment worth £1 billion over 25 years to support economic growth. This includes retaining around a third of the Business Rate growth from new businesses – although the rate is set by the Government. This provides an extra incentive for the Council to invest in projects that create new private sector businesses, like the Bath City of Ideas Enterprise Area. The New Homes Bonus is also providing additional finance from central Government as well as the extra Council Tax raised from those homes to maintain services.
Comprehensive information about the way in which local taxpayer’s money is spent is available at www.bathnes.gov.uk/budget2014
