Torbay's budget invests more into services 'valued most'

Torbay's final budget plans have been released.

A number of changes have been made to the initial proposals, which focused on a number of financial pressures as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Since then, the Council has received further funding from the Government to help cover some of these costs.

This has enabled the local authority to remove the contingency they had in place for COVID-19 related costs for adult social care, children’s social care and home to school transport.

The Government has also announced a continuation of the Adult Social Care precept which enables local authorities to increase Council Tax by an additional 3% to support the increasing cost of adult social care.

This is on top of the 1.99% outlined in Torbay Council's initial budget proposals, equating to £1.50 a week for an average Band D property.

Plans also include a £1 million investment into services for communities on a one off basis.

There will be investment into the economy, such as £150k to dredge Brixham Harbour so larger fishing vessels can be accommodated. There will also be investment in tackling climate change and for people in the Bay.

The final proposals for investing in Torbay’s people include:

• £700K to support children and families with complex and challenging needs in their home communities

• £300k for residents facing financial hardship

• £150K to reinstate subsidies for local bus services

• No increase in car park fees for the coming year which will benefit both our businesses and our residents

"A key priority of this administration is to improve our Children’s Services and it’s heartening to see that we have made great progress in the current financial year. For the first time year in a long time, we are improving the lives of children and making savings instead of covering an overspend in this department.

"Doing all we can to support vulnerable adults in Torbay is also vitally important. The only way we can do this is to utilise the Government’s Adult Social Care precept and increase Council Tax. This way we can give vulnerable adults the support they need and put more preventative measures in place to help people in the future. We are not alone, early indications suggest other local authorities will have to do the same."

Councillor Steve Darling - Leader of Torbay Council

You can view the budget proposals here.

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