AREAS OF INVESTMENT

THE main areas where the council is planning to invest in these budget proposals include:

to continue with the local business rate reduction scheme for 2020-21 which provided a further relief of £300 per qualifying business and increase it to £350 per qualifying business for next year. This will cost the council £50,000;

free car parking after 3pm on Monday to Fridays and free all day (after 10am) on Saturdays to encourage people to visit town centres and aid businesses’ recovery. The cost of this proposal in terms of income is £160,000;

a core base budget for climate change and carbon reduction is put in place. This will cost £100,000;

extra resources are set aside to enable a further six graduates to be appointed, over and above the existing commitment in the council’s graduate programme. This will cost £200,000;

extra resources to expand upon the current well-being support programmes for staff. This will cost £50,000;

extra resources for public health and protection services at a cost of £200,000;

flood prevention support at a cost of £50,000; and

extra resources for the team that manages overgrowth at a cost of £75,000.

The remaining budget gap of £711,000, when the £4.6m worth of cuts, the council tax increase and these proposals are taken into account, would be met by funds from the council’s transitional funding reserve.

The council’s general capital funding allocation has increased by £87,000 meaning it now stands at £13.7m.