Redcar and Cleveland council tax rise approved despite opposition

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council budget proposals for 2024-25 were approved on Thursday

A rebellion has failed to stop a council approving budget plans for the next financial year, which include an overall 4.99% local tax rise.

Thirty-seven Redcar and Cleveland council members voted for the plans, with 16 Conservatives and some independents voting against.

The minority Labour-led council said it was facing a £700,000 budget shortfall.

Labour councillor Christopher Massey told a meeting council tax going up would be a "challenge" for many.

The rise will add £1.73 per week (£90.27 per year) to the bill of a full council taxpayer living in a band D house, while someone living in a band A house receiving full council tax support will pay an extra 20p a week (£10.53 per year).

• What is council tax and how much is it going up?

Rejecting criticism of council tax levels, Mr Massey said the local authority had the third lowest rate of council tax in north-east England, while also describing various financial pressures it was facing.

He said: "Local government has been chronically underfunded and that has remained so for the best part of a decade."

Opposition

Budget proposals to make savings totalling £8.6m over the next five years were also approved amid opposition, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Councillor Paul Salvin, leader of the Conservative group on the council, said round table discussions arranged when the budget was being developed had been a "sham" with no cost saving suggestions from Conservatives being implemented.

Mr Salvin said: "They [the discussions] were all in the name of a PR exercise so the council leader can say we have all worked together on the budget."

He also said for every £1 of council tax being paid, 17% was going towards interest on loans taken out by the local authority.

Council leader, Labour's Alec Brown said "difficult decisions" were required to "shield our residents from potential greater hardship".

Lib Dem councillor Glyn Nightingale said not to pass the budget would be effectively a vote of no confidence.

He said it was "absolutely essential" the council was provided with the resources it needed to do its job and called for a "rational decision".