Bristol City Council’s Green-led annual budget plans have received a mixed reaction from political parties in the chamber. The authority is making £43million of cuts, savings and increases in income in 2025/26 to balance the books.
But some of the most controversial initial proposals in a long list of options, such as slashing the libraries budget in half, axing lollipop school patrols, closing three museums, ending funding to cultural groups and cutting £3.4million from the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, have been either dropped or pushed back.
Labour group leader Cllr Tom Renhard said: “We’re relieved the Greens and Lib Dems have seen sense and listened to representations from Bristol Labour and communities across the city, dropping their proposals to close over half of Bristol’s libraries, sack all our lollipop people, and mothball our museums.
“One serious injury on Bristol’s roads is one too many. Sacking Bristol’s lollipop people would have put children at risk and would have hardly made a dent in the Greens’ budget deficit.
“It was clearly a terrible idea, with no alternative safety measures identified, and shouldn’t have been on the table to begin with. Their plan to cut Bristol’s libraries budget in half would have had a devastating effect.
“Bristol’s library service clearly needs more investment, not less. Our branch libraries provide an invaluable service to communities so we’re pleased they’ve belatedly recognised this and scrapped their plans to permanently close up to 19 libraries.
“Closing museums for such minimal savings would have been an act of cultural vandalism. Our thanks go to the many residents who made their voices heard.”
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Conservative group leader Cllr Mark Weston said he welcomed the temporary reprieve for Blaise Museum, the Georgian House and Red Lodge but warned they were still under threat. The Tories launched a petition against the plans which has now received more than 3,100 signatures.
Cllr Weston said: “We are delighted that the nonsensical plan to close three museums has – for the moment – been put on hold. This represented an entirely false economy.
“However, it is important to recognise that the future of these buildings and their collections remains uncertain. There can be no room for complacency.
“Consequently, I hope we are still able to get a debate [at full council] started on this issue by triggering the petition threshold of 3,500 validated signatures. As far as the latest budget report is concerned, there are still some real difficulties in it for my group, particularly around the introduction of or increases in parking charges.
“Furthermore, we would like to see much more attention given to funding basic council services around planning, pollution protection and neighbourhood enforcement. It is these kinds of things which really impact most households and deserve a much higher priority when it comes to spending commitments.”
Read more:
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Bristol’s lollipop ladies saved from the chop in city council U-turn
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Plans to halve Bristol’s libraries budget dropped ahead of major review
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Plans to close three museums and cut council tax benefits put on hold
The Liberal Democrats, who have two of the eight positions of policy committee chairs in the new collaborative committee system, welcomed the draft budget, which will be finalised at strategy and resources committee on Monday, February 3, ahead of the final vote at full council on February 25.
The group said it had worked cross-party to ensure Bristolians got a fair deal and that years of financial mismanagement by the previous Labour administration and underfunding by central government had left the city’s finances in a “precarious position”.
Lib Dem group leader Cllr Jos Clark said “The former Labour administration has spent years cutting services by stealth, promising impossible savings, and kicking the can down the road.
“I welcome the transparent approach to developing the budget that has been adopted as part of the committee system, and that the papers published take into account the feedback provided by my group – and residents – over the past few weeks.”
Lib Dem Cllr Tim Kent said: “I am delighted that the council is not pressing ahead with cuts to our school crossing patrols, museums, and libraries.
“Many residents reached out to me expressing their concerns about the potential cuts to school crossing staff, which are essential community assets and keep our children safe on our often busy roads.”