Council tax Chance to have a say as county plans 2.9% rise
PEOPLE in Gloucestershire can have their say on plans to increase council tax by almost three per cent.
County council leaders backed their spending plans for the next financial year at a meeting last week.
The local authority is planning to spend £519 million in 2022/23, an increase of £37m on the current year.
The proposals include an extra £100m for roads, funding for 26 miles of cycle track from Stroud to Bishop’s Cleeve, and a £150m injection into schools.
The budget, which also includes investment in market towns and high streets and ongoing support and protection of the most vulnerable in Gloucestershire, has now opened for consultation.
The council says it is also committed to continue investing in the county’s fight against Covid-19 and in its firefighters.
A sum of £14m additional investment is planned for children’s and young people’s services, with almost £9m set to be invested in services for vulnerable adults and those living with a disability.
Of the spending planned for schools, the final £4m of the council’s overall £9.7m investment in the new social, emotional and mental health needs school in Brockworth will be delivered, £6m more will be committed towards the new secondary school in Cheltenham, an additional £4m towards the new Warden Hill Primary School and another £7m towards the new Bishop’s Cleeve Primary School.
A further £19.2m will be set aside for a range of other school improvement and maintenance schemes.
A range of cycle routes will benefit from almost £20m investment, including Gloucester to Cheltenham (£10.1m), the Gloucester city centre cycle spine (£3.7m) and Cheltenham to Bishop’s Cleeve (£5.3m). There is also a further £500k investment planned for essential drainage works and almost £900k for highways maintenance.
The budget will allocate £30k to each councillor to spend on highways schemes within their division next year.
A further £1m will also go towards tackling climate change.
The increase in spending is partly covered by other funding streams, such as central government grants and tax income from newly-built homes. But the budget includes a council tax increase of 1.99 per cent, which will secure around £9.5m for services, and a one per cent adult social care levy, identifying around £3.7m to help protect vulnerable adults. Based on a band D property, this equates to a £42 increase.
A meeting in February of the full council will make the final decision on the council tax rate for next year.
The bill sent to homes will also include parish, district and police and crime commissioner elements – all to be decided separately.
» Have your say on the county’s proposals at https://haveyoursaygloucestershire.uk.engagementhq.com/ budget-consultation-2022-23