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shortly be asking every resident in the district for their thoughts on how these savings could be made with a range of proposals on the table. As a Conservative, I believe our role is to protect vital services for council taxpayers. To my mind this means ensuring your bins are collected regularly; providing housing and shelter for the most vulnerable in our district; protecting the environment; keeping play areas open for children, and making sure we have the teeth required to deal robustly with enforcement issues such as flytipping, illegal building activities, pollution, graffiti and anti-social behaviour.

We are often criticised for being a bit plain vanilla in our approach to the budget and were challenged by Labour councillors at the November 11 committee to think about consulting on ideas like raising council tax beyond the annual 2% (inflationary) or £5 maximum increase per Band D property currently permitted. This is something that as Conservative councillors we would not entertain. Hardworking families and residents across our district deserve to know that they will not be subjected to extra rises above the 2% in council tax at a time when household incomes are already severely stretched.

In October the council housing service came back in house and in February next year the newlyformed Canterbury Environment

Company takes over the bin collection service from Serco. These are challenging times for the council. Yet, it also provides an opportunity to modernise our council and find further cost savings which can be used in future years to provide better services and rebuild a more robust financial position. This year has already indicated the benefits of greater digitalisation across our communities in facilitating communication and engagement. Our council has shown its agility too in coping with Covid19 and in rapidly putting in place emergency procedures to support the most vulnerable in our district as well as ensuring businesses are paid government grants and other financial support as quickly as possible. In next year’s budget the council is consulting on a new approach to parking charge increases in Canterbury and is looking at introducing a demandbased tariff structure. This would see a £1 differential in the hourly charge between the most in-demand car parks and those that are perhaps a little further out. It is also proposing a daily cap on charges in these car parks payable in any 24-hour period to give certainly to drivers of the maximum charges they would pay.

In Herne Bay, there is a proposal to allow free evening/ overnight parking between 6pm and 9am for our ANPR

account holders. In Whitstable the 8.30am-10am free parking will continue on school days to help parents get their children to school safely. But the council is consulting on creating a high demand seasonal tariff for Gorrell Tank and Keams Yard in Whitstable as well as at Reculver Country Park as these car parks are fully subscribed during the summer with visitors enjoying our wonderful coastline. This is already in place at Neptune car park in Herne Bay and worked successfully this year.

The council will also be consulting on outsourcing our provision of cafes at the King’s Hall in Herne Bay and at the Beaney in Canterbury as well as looking at the potential for a private operator to lease and run Tower House. Less popular will probably be consulting on the potential to close three public lavatories.

The council has a difficult task ahead: making massive budget savings but balancing this with supporting our residents through these difficult times and ensuring you get the day-to-day services that you expect as a council taxpayer.

The consultation runs from Monday, November 23, until Monday, January 4, and will be available on CCC’S website. Rachel Carnac Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group of Canterbury City Councillors

Herne Bay

This colourful shot of kitesurfers in Tankerton Bay was taken by Peter Gainey, of Whitstable