Council tax bills in South Gloucestershire will rise by nearly three per cent from April.
The increase, comprising 1.99 per cent for general services and one per cent for adult social care, means the local authority’s element for a Band D property will be £1,668.64, up by £48.45 on the current year, or 93p extra a week. It was approved unanimously at a full council meeting on Wednesday evening (February 16) along with the annual budget, which includes more money for street cleaning, school buildings, roads and potholes, and children’s services.
Opposition groups secured extra funding to help retrofit homes and reduce waiting times for therapy for sex attack victims from up to 42 months down to three. The Conservative administration’s budget keeps parking free at council-run car parks in the district, with a review of charges at Kings Chase shopping centre, which the authority bought last year, while a new park will be created in Cadbury Heath to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Read more: Council tax to rise 2.99 per cent in South Gloucestershire amid cost of living squeeze
But while frontline services are protected, it also includes £9.5million of cutbacks in 2022/23 and £23.6million over the next four years, including staff redundancies, higher pest control fees and the end of subsidies for the HandyVan repairs service for older and disabled residents. Almost £260million will be spent on South Gloucestershire Council day-to-day services, plus £140.5million on capital projects, over the next 12 months.
Street cleaning teams will receive an additional £639,000, more than £12million will go on road repairs, £15.3million extra for children’s services amid ongoing criticism from Ofsted that vulnerable youngsters are at risk, and there will be a £1million prevention fund to help people stay healthier for longer. Schools will share an additional £7.3million from increased government funding, up by 6.6 per cent from 2021/22 to £191million for the coming year, with spending on pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) rising by £5million.
The council is also ploughing £47million from its capital programme into the school estate, including nearly £5million on a new sixth form, maths and science block at Castle School in Thornbury, £3.7million for improvements at Marlwood School, Alveston, and £4.5million to extend Abbeywood Community School in Stoke Gifford. Another £21million was approved in the budget to release £105million under the Government’s recent regional transport settlement for projects in South Gloucestershire over the next three years, including a park and ride on the M32, although a location has still not been determined, and improvements on the A38 and A432.
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Council leader Conservative Cllr Toby Savage said: “This balanced four-year budget is one for everyone in South Gloucestershire. We are protecting the vital frontline services that so many people rely on and we are investing to create an even cleaner and greener South Gloucestershire.
“We want to secure our area’s future prosperity through investment in transport and infrastructure, schools and continued action to play our part in responding to the climate and environmental emergencies. Support for people in financial difficulties through our community resilience fund and our £1million commitment to preventing health issues by helping people to help themselves live healthier lives are just some of the features of this budget.
“I am really pleased that we have been able to achieve all of this while limiting the annual council tax rise to well below inflation in a demonstration of our commitment to delivering value for money as well as excellent services to our residents.” The 2.99 per cent council tax rise is the maximum permitted by the Government this year without the need for a local referendum, and was originally proposed in the autumn to be 3.99 per cent for South Gloucestershire householders before Whitehall imposed the limit.
Residents will pay slightly more or less depending on their parish or town council’s precept for local services it provides, and the final bill will include a £10 annual increase for Avon & Somerset Police and £1.52 more for Avon Fire & Service. Both opposition groups tabled budget amendments which were approved unanimously following negotiations, and some changes, before the meeting at Kingswood civic centre.
Labour secured £7,300 from reserves for 10 more climate change workshops in schools and £75,000 from the newly created £1million prevention fund to ensure 50 victims of rape and sexual assault will receive therapy within three months rather than up to three-and-a-half years. Group leader Cllr Pat Rooney said: “In the short term our budget proposals will have an immediate impact for some of our most vulnerable victims of sexual assault and rape, and in the medium to longer term the workshops we have agreed will give potentially lifesaving advice on how to cope with the real threat of catastrophic climate change events.”
Conservative Cllr Sarah Pomfret told members: “Responsibility for supporting the victims of serious sexual assault and rape is legally a responsibility for the CCG, not the council. However, I do support us providing additional support to tackle this issue. But I am concerned that this is just us bailing them out when they need to be providing a better service.”
The Lib Dems secured an extra £110,000 to help residents reduce their carbon footprints and energy bills. They scaled back their original amendment to cut £45,000 a year from the council’s PR budget – what group leader Cllr Claire Young called “replacing Conservative spin with action” – to employ a permanent extra domestic retrofit officer.
Their initial proposal also included £10,000 for thermal imaging cameras to be loaned out by libraries to help people understand where heat is lost from their homes and ring-fencing money for climate and ecological emergency work. The Tories said they had already allocated existing funding to the heat cameras and, following negotiations, councillors unanimously approved a revised amendment for an extra domestic retrofit officer for two years.
Cllr Young told the meeting: “It appears that our repeated calls for more funding for climate action are finally hitting home. We hope the leader is now grasping that it is a genuine emergency requiring urgent action. But we think still more can be done, which is why we are proposing an amendment.”
She said afterwards: “We had hoped to cut the council’s PR budget in order to make this domestic retrofit officer permanent, but in the spirit of actually getting things done, rather than grandstanding, we negotiated an agreement with the other groups.”
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