South Gloucestershire council tax set for 4.99pc hike despite residents’ opposition

Council tax is set to rise by 4.99 per cent for South Gloucestershire residents from April. Annual draft budget papers say this would take the authority’s element of bills for Band D households to £1,931.33, despite most people opposing the increase, which is the maximum allowed without a local referendum, during public consultation.

The spending and savings proposals, which do not include direct cuts to services this year, include previously announced plans to increase garden waste collection fees from £60 to £70, just a year after they doubled from £30, the introduction of car parking charges and withdrawing funding for maintaining public toilets and playing fields. Although the budget will be balanced for the next two years, with the use of reserves in the second year, South Gloucestershire Council leader Lib Dem Cllr Maggie Tyrrell warned of increasingly difficult financial times ahead.

Even if all the already identified savings of £40.3million from previous budgets are delivered, plus a further £1.1million of new ones in 2025/26 rising to £5.6million in 2028/29 that were taken forward through the consultation process, the authority will still need to make about £12million of additional cuts by 2028/29 to balance the books. But the proposals – to be considered by the cross-party scrutiny commission on Wednesday, January 29, before approval by the Lib Dem/Labour cabinet on Monday, February 3, and finally a vote at full council on Wednesday, February 19 – also included some new investments.

About £50,000 a year will be spent recruiting an extra occupational therapist to meet the needs of residents who rely on assistive technology to live independently in their own homes. The budget report said: “Sometimes there can be faults with products, and new regulation requires the council to have formal mechanisms in place to ensure we can recall equipment in response to safety concerns raised by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency.

“We will employ an additional occupational therapist whose role will be to ensure we are complying with this requirement and ensure people can use equipment safely.” The council will also fill a £170,000 funding gap to maintain support for domestic abuse victims and their families.

Another £15,000 will be invested in speech and language therapy for young offenders to help them build positive lives and reduce reoffending. And £15,000 will also go towards supporting Armed Forces veterans.

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While a third of the 1,869 residents who responded to the consultation supported yet another 4.99 per cent council tax rise, including two per cent for social care, nearly 55 per cent opposed it, including 41.7 per cent who were strongly against the hike. The most popular choice was the lowest suggested increase of 3.99 per cent with 54 per cent in favour, although even this was too high for many people.

Each uplift of one per cent is worth about £2million of income to the authority. The report to cabinet said the £10 rise in garden waste subscriptions from April “allows us to continue to cover the escalating costs of providing the service” and bring it in line with neighbouring councils.

The consultation showed over a third of respondents – 38 per cent – backed the move while 44.5 per cent were against. The report said: “People’s main objection was that the fee had gone up by so much last year.”

It said the organisation was working with town and parish councils and the voluntary sector to understand the impact of axing funding from discretionary community-based services, including maintaining public toilets, playing fields and other open spaces, and find a way to pay for it. The report said this was likely to be needed because of the financial pressures.

But it said that this proposal would save just £15,000 a year from 2028/29. It said: “Through our budget-setting process, the council has been at pains to prioritise changes which do not impact our ability to deliver services.

“We are in a relatively financially stable position now so can minimise cuts in the short term. But this has only been possible because we have taken difficult decisions early.

“Therefore, given the cost pressures and uncertainties around our future funding, we think we will need to continue this approach of planning ahead and make some cuts over coming months and years.” Cllr Tyrrell (Lib Dem, Thornbury) said: “It is increasingly difficult to balance council budgets in very challenging financial times.

“We are pleased that we have been able to do that this year, and through the use of our reserves, into next year. We are also not proposing to make further cuts to services, but we need to be honest with people that there are more difficult times ahead.

“The feedback and engagement we have had with people around this budget, particularly face to face through our ‘community conversations’, will help us to prioritise effectively, based on a better understanding of residents’ needs and views and the council’s position. We are also pleased that we have been able to prioritise funding to support some of our communities who most need our help.

“Sometimes a little can go a long way, and the support we want to be able to provide for young people who need help getting their lives back on track, for older people who want to live independently, and for our veterans’ community, is really important for us.” Council co-leader Cllr Ian Boulton (Labour, Staple Hill & Mangotsfield) said: “We understand how many local people are still feeling the pressure of the cost-of-living crisis from just a couple of years ago.

“While it’s obviously different for the council, we continue to have rising costs while our primary way of raising more money to pay for services is through council tax. That is a burden felt by residents, particularly by those struggling the most.

“We have kept the proposed increase this year as low as we can, while still balancing our budget. We expect there may be more difficult times ahead, but we are committed to keeping up our community conversations.

“These conversations give the council and residents the opportunity to explain to each other what has to be done. They also allow local people to tell us how they want us to approach the choices we will need to make in the future, and for us to listen to how they want us to prioritise decisions on spending, saving and support.

“By presenting a balanced budget for the next two years, we are able to take the time to make sure the choices we make for the future can be well thought out, well explained and well understood by everyone.”