Gloucestershire County Council increases council tax share by 5%

Gloucestershire County Council and all district councils bar one are upping council tax in the new financial year

A county council said it was raising its share of council tax by the maximum amount to help it deliver "core services".

Gloucestershire County Council approved a 4.99% increase, including a 2% rise in the adult social care precept, for the new financial year on Wednesday.

It was approved with 30 votes in favour and 19 abstentions.

It sees the part of the bill for county council services rise by £76.04 to £1,599.82 for band D properties.

The final total bill will be higher as it will include district, police and parish councils.

Mark Hawthorne, the council's Conservative leader, said the tax increase was due to rising costs.

All district councils in Gloucestershire - apart from Tewkesbury - will increase council tax by 3%, the highest amount they can increase their share by, the Local Democracy Reporting Service, reported.

The county's budget starting 1 April will pay for services, including social care, libraries and road works during 2024/25.

The general fund revenue budget totals more than £616 million - an increase of £50m on last year.

Its capital programme totals £503.7m.

Finance and change cabinet member Lynden Stowe (C, Campden-Vale) thanked members across the chamber for their input in helping fine tune the budget's details.

He also thanked the public and stakeholders for taking the time to respond to the consultation and the county's MPs for lobbying for more funding.

A year ago I said central government [gave us] a pragmatic, even generous, settlement," he said.

"When first presenting this year's budget in cabinet I said it had been tight.

"However, the additional funding announcement two weeks ago of £5.2m to this authority does mean we are once again able to put a budget today that enables us to deliver our core services."

He said he reluctantly asked to increase council tax but explained it would help resurface 156 roads next year and the council would receive £2.2m in funding to improve bus services.

'Fixing potholes'

It would also provide three new Robin bookable bus services in South Cotswolds, North Tewkesbury and Berkeley Vale.

The £15.1m in income generated from electricity from the waste energy plant at Javelin Park was a huge boost, he said.

He also told the chamber an extra £500,000 would be spent on two specialist machines to fix potholes.

However, Liberal Democrat leader Ben Evans called it an "unambitious make do" budget and said the Tory group had been let down by the government.