Bankrupt Woking Borough Council set to increase service charges

Woking Borough Council declared itself effectively bankrupt in June

Vulnerable people face an increase in service charge prices after Woking Borough Council's executive committee agreed to raise them.

Those who receive community meals, or use extra care facilities and community alarms will be asked to pay more.

Garden waste fees are set to rise by almost 50% to £70 per bin.

Woking Borough Council declared itself effectively bankrupt in June with an unpayable deficit of about £1.2bn and debt set to soar to £2.6bn.

It meant all services the council was not legally obliged to provide would have to pay for themselves.

The day care services, which were previously free, run from The Vyne and St Mary's Community Centre, are to be moved to Brockhill and Hale End Court and cost £20 a day.

The day care charge will not include the cost of transportation, which is currently undertaken by Woking Community Transport - which in itself is under threat given its loss of funding.

'Good and useful services'

Decisions on big ticket items - such as Pool in the Park and parking charges - are not expected until the new year as the council awaits consultation results.

Leader of the council Ann-Marie Barker said: "These are non-statutory services, they are services the government doesn't require us to provide.

"We provide them because they are good and useful services to residents but if we want to continue to provide them we've got to cover the costs, we've got to make them cost neutral."

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