The leader of Bath & North East Somerset Council warned a councillor to “back off” in a bizarre council chamber moment.
Cllr Chris Dando (left image, centre) and Cllr Kevin Guy (right image) at the meeting | Image © B&NES Council
Liberal Democrat Kevin Guy gave Labour opposition councillor Chris Dando the warning at a cabinet meeting last week, in a row over the relatively niche issue of how many people responded to its budget consultation.
Just 59 people had their say on the £193 million budget and the proposals to once again raise council tax by the maximum 4.99%.
Councillor Dando told the cabinet meeting on 12th February that he thought the tiny number of responses must have been a typo.
He said: “That’s something like 0.03% of eligible adults.”
But Councillor Guy told him: “It’s probably 49 more people than Rachel Reeves got in the national budget to reply to hers – so I would back off I were you, Chris, on that one.”
Councillor Dando replied: “This is serious matters and I don’t appreciate the tone.”
The cabinet member responsible for communication, Councillor Manda Rigby (Bathwick, Liberal Democrat), said that the council had published two press releases, had a “wide social media engagement platform”, sent it to all parish and town councils, and asked all councillors to help promote the consultation.
She said: “We are not the only council who finds that when something is largely approved of, we get very few responses.
“Had there been things in the budget that people were furious at, we would have had far more.”
Despite the low number of responses, two measures were dropped due to the reaction in the public consultation. Plans to save £200,000 a year by reducing the hours at Bath Recycling Centre and Old Welton Recycling Centre in Midsomer Norton and to make £50,000 a year by introducing a “small charge” for the council’s Discovery Cards were both cancelled.
Councillor Mark Elliott (Lansdown, Liberal Democrat), the cabinet member for resources, said in a statement: “The council is committed to listening to residents and I want to thank everyone who took part in the budget consultation.
“As a result of your feedback, we will keep the same opening hours for our waste and recycling centres and won’t be changing the terms of the residents’ discovery card.”
Defending the low level of responses to Councillor Dando at the cabinet meeting, he said: “We have to have a consultation; we can’t force people to respond to it.”
The meeting saw the cabinet give its backing to plans to raise council tax as part of its 2026/27 budget plans, a move which now needs to be approved by the full council.
The 4.99% hike is the maximum that councils can raise their tax without government permission or holding a referendum.
The rise, which would apply to the Bath & North East Somerset Council section of the council tax bill from April, will be another £90.97 a year for an average band D household, or £1.75 a week.
Councillor Elliott said: “Residents of Bath and North East Somerset have the third lowest council tax of all south west unitary authorities and, once North Somerset raise theirs by 9%, we will be the second lowest of all south west unitary authorities.
“And yet this budget is not having to make the kinds of service cuts that other authorities are having to.”
The full council will meet in Bath’s Guildhall at 6.30pm on 24th February to vote on the tax rise and its budget for 2026/27.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
