Councils seek views on budget proposals

TWO councils are inviting residents to comment on their budget proposals.

North West Leicestershire District Council’s online surveys on its spending plans close on January 30.

Harborough District Council said it “continues to tackle significant financial challenges, as well as invest in frontline services”.

People can have their say until February 6.

North West Leicestershire’s proposals include freezing its portion of council tax for a 13th year running.

It plans to invest £20.5 million over five years to reduce the carbon footprint of council homes, spend a further £11.6 million on projects to regenerate Coalville over the next five years, increase rents to council tenants by up to 4.1 per cent to pay for planned improvement work to homes and keep garden waste collections free for one bin.

It has two budgets, the Housing Revenue Account specifically for council housing, and the General Fund for everything else.

Comments will be fed back to the cabinet, which will meet to set the budget on February 1 before full council on February 24.

Councillor Nick Rushton, corporate portfolio holder, said: “Keeping our finances healthy while planning for the future is very important to us so we can continue to freeze our portion of council tax.

“This year’s decision was especially important as we know many of our communities will once again face financial struggles, so we’ve balanced our need to spend and save.”

Harborough said last year, to help close a budget gap of £4 million, every service was reviewed and by 2024/25 the annual saving will be £3.1 million.

Proposals have been put forward to increase the authority’s share of council tax by £5 a year, for a Band D household, the maximum amount permitted by government.

Councillor James Hallam, deputy leader and cabinet lead for finance, said: “While we have proposed an increase in our share of the council tax bill, we believe this still represents excellent value for money, with the continued delivery of high-quality services and significant investment which will see tangible benefits for residents and businesses.

“It’s also worth noting that since 2011 there has only been an increase in our share of the council tax bill of just over £8.

“There has been in-depth work to identify savings across the council, to address financial challenges and losses in revenue due to the pandemic, as we focus positively on delivering our vision through our revised Corporate Plan.”

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