B&NES Council approved the 2016/17 budget last Tuesday evening, which the leading Conservatives say will continue to protect essential services. But with an increase of 3.25% in Council Tax, including a new 2% Social Care precept and £43 million worth of savings needing to be found over the next four years, there could be very lean times ahead.

The Budget included investing an additional £500,000 in highway maintenance, £1.8 million for transport improvement schemes and road safety measures, £3.2 million for new affordable housing schemes, including support for extra care housing and a shared housing initiative for young people, up to £30 million investment to support the delivery of Bath Quays, £6 million of Government funding in new and improved school buildings in order to modernise facilities for local school children, £85,000 as part of a new Gull strategy, and investing over £1 million in Disabled Facilities Grants.

The Conservative leadership says it will be saving over £5 million through internal organisational savings and becoming more financially efficient, generating over £3 million of new income in a variety of ways, which includes more markets and pop-up events, increasing the Council’s commercial property estate, developing the CCTV service to operate on a more commercial footing and increasing income from heritage estate and assets. An amendment was tabled by Conservative Councillor, Chris Watt, for an additional £50,000 from the Government’s Transition Fund to be allocated to the welfare support scheme as a one-off measure to assist with increasing demand that may arise during the transition to universal credit over the coming year.

Following the meeting, Conservative Leader, Cllr Tim Warren, said: “As a result of the savings we have made, we have been able to protect the core front-line services residents value, whilst keeping Council Tax as low as possible. We expect the Council Tax rise here in B&NES to be among the lowest in the country.

“It’s a shame that we heard a lot of unnecessary criticism from Labour and Liberal Democrat Councillors, mostly aimed at the Government, but nothing positive or constructive and no alternative proposals for how to balance the books, whilst continuing to protect services.”

Speaking to The Journal this week, Labour Group Leader for Bath and North East Somerset, Westfield Councillor Robin Moss, said: “This is a budget passed down from the Tory Government at Westminster, George Osborne in particular. Cut the grant from central government, pass down a 2% tax rise, give extra responsibilities, such as Public Health, without all the money that is needed to do the job. Residents in B&NES who need and rely on Council services, such as the elderly and vulnerable, are facing a tough four years ahead under this administration.”

Finance spokesperson for the Lib-Dems, Councillor Andy Furse (Kingsmead), added: “After a five year freeze, residents are being asked to pay 3.25% more Council Tax, as well as increases to other precepts. In return, they can expect to see services cut in many departments, with more and more cuts to come.

“The Conservatives have said they will deliver a balanced budget, but they cannot yet tell us exactly how this will be accomplished. Very little detail has been provided about some of the biggest savings they are hoping to achieve. A large proportion of these rely on departmental reviews, which have not yet taken place, and business plans to boost income, which have not yet been developed.

“Without these details, Councillors have little chance to assess whether the targets are realistic or whether they will result in further, unacceptable cuts to public services. Large sums are being taken out of health budgets for example. These seem to be mainly in preventative services, such as helping smokers quit and programmes such as support for sexual health and substance misuse. Sirona and Curo are expected to deliver yet more savings.

“This is also a disappointing budget for the arts and heritage, with cuts lined up for Arts Development and Events grants, the music service and destination management. These will come on top of planned, significant increses to entry fees for Council-run museums, such as the Roman Baths, leading to the inevitable question – are we at risk of over-exploitation of the visitor economy?”

Peasedown St John’s Independent Councillors voted for the budget last week, having asked for £45,000 for new fire doors for the village Primary School, £2,500 for a feasibility study to look at further traffic calming measures in Braysdown Lane; the rolling over of the £30,000 feasibility study fund for the Bath Road/A367 junction and £30,000 allocated to conduct another feasibility study looking into changes and alterations to the controversial million pound Odd Down/A367 bus lane and entrance locations to the Odd Down Park and Ride to try and ease commuter congestion.

Cllrs Walker and Bevan have also been working with Lib-Dem Bathavon South Councillor, Neil Butters, to ensure the delayed road upgrades to the well-used road from Peasedown St John to Wellow are carried out as soon as possible. Lobbying from the three councillors has seen an extra £82,000 allocated on top of £88,000 for road repairs later this year.

The budget meeting was webcast – to watch it online and for full details of the budget papers, readers can visit: http://www.bathnes.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/209416.