Council to cut about 100 jobs and raise local tax

Independent Alliance council leader Adam Zerny said "the hard work begins now"

A council has voted to cut up to 100 job posts in the hope of saving more than £35m in its annual budget.

Central Bedfordshire, which is run by the Independent Alliance group as a minority administration, also agreed to raise council tax by 4.99% for 2025-26, although the majority of councillors abstained from voting.

Plans were rejected to close Dunstable Library on Sundays and Mondays and reduce opening hours at recycling centres.

More than half of the job cuts are expected to come by not filling vacant positions, but leader Adam Zerny said: "Passing the budget is not a big cause for celebration as this has huge implications for jobs."

The unitary council employs about 3,000 staff and said it hoped the cuts would not have an impact on service delivery.

For council tax payers, the 4.99% rise means an extra £87.44 for a Band D property, resulting in a bill of £1,839.74 next year.

Central Bedfordshire's budget meeting went beyond midnight on Thursday as councillors from seven different groups debated public spending

Thursday evening's meeting ran into the early hours of Friday, with 16 councillors voting to approve the £265m budget, 36 abstaining, and the rest of the authority's 63 members voting against.

Leader of the Conservatives, Richard Wenham, said his party "could not support this damaging budget".

"Residents are faced with huge council tax rises and vicious cuts across the board," he said.

Hayley Whittaker, leader of the Central Bedfordshire Community Network group, said: "It's going to take for the staff to be made redundant until we really start to feel the impact of those losses."

A Liberal Democrat amendment was also passed to add £30,000 for flooding information and outreach, after Bedfordshire suffered significant floods in 2024.

Meanwhile, Labour, which has five councillors, filed an amendment opposing proposed cuts to Safer Neighbourhood teams, but that amendment was rejected.

'Even tougher'

Mr Zerny said: "No-one gets into politics to cut jobs, but ultimately we've got to make sure the council keeps running.

"We'll be trying to keep that figure as low as possible and some of those numbers relate to jobs whereby they haven't been filled for a while and we're not looking to fill them in future."

He said 70% of the budget paid for adult social care and children's services, which he was "keen to protect".

"The areas that matter the most to me are those that really affect people's lives and positively affect those that need our support," he said.

"In the course of the last year we have pretty much stuck to our budget.

"The next year is going to be even tougher but we're going to work our socks off."