Cornwall Council to raise tax by 4.99%

CORNWALL Council has agreed its budget for the coming year, which includes raising council tax bills by 4.99%.

However while the budget plans for 2021/22 and business plan for the next four years was voted through, it did not receive support from Conservative or Labour councillors.

With council elections set for May, the council meeting was dominated by a clear division between the Liberal Democrat/ Independent administration and Conservative opposition.

The Liberal Democrat and Independent Cabinet had proposed the budget and the increase in council tax which includes a 1.99% general increase and an additional 3% to fund adult social care.

For a Band D property in Cornwall, it means that Cornwall Council’s share of the council tax will increase by £1.52 a week.

No alternative budget proposals had been put forward by councillors ahead of the online meeting.

Council deputy leader Adam Paynter proposed the budget plans, saying the decision to increase council tax had not been made “lightly”. He said it had been one of the most difficult years in which to set a budget due to the uncertainties posed by Covid-19 and the lack of a long term funding commitment for councils from the Government.

Conservative councillor David Harris acknowledged that setting the budget must have been difficult amid the challenges being faced by the council.

However, he then set out why he and the Conservative group was unable to support the budget.

He highlighted proposed savings which include £18 million from adult social care and another £3.5 million which are “flex targets,” which he said could more accurately be described as “hope targets”.

Cllr Harris said that a “Herculean effort will be needed to reach these targets”.

Malcolm Brown, speaking on behalf of the Lib Dem group, said that Cllr Harris was inviting the council to reject the budget.

He said: “I find that totally unacceptable as no alternative has been put forward.”

Cllr Brown said that councillors had had numerous opportunities to propose alternative budgets since the autumn and none had come from the Conservatives.

Mebyon Kernow leader Dick Cole said that his group would

“be acting responsibly” and support the budget proposals.

Labour councillor Jayne Kirkham said that the Government had again passed the responsibility for funding adult social care to local taxpayers.