Have your say on tax rises in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Council leaders backed their spending plans for the next financial year at a recent meeting.
People in Gloucestershire can now have their say on plans to increase council tax by almost three per cent next year.
The county council is planning to spend £519 million in 2022/23, an increase of £37 million on the current year.
The proposals include an extra £100 million for roads, funding for 26 miles of cycle track from Stroud to Bishop’s Cleeve, and a £150 million injection into schools.
The budget which also includes investment in market towns and high streets and ongoing support and protection of the most vulnerable in Gloucestershire has now opened for consultation.
The council says it is also committed to continue investing in the county’s fight against Covid-19 and in the county’s firefighters.
An additional £14 million investment is planned for children and young people services with almost £9 million set to be invested in services for vulnerable adults and those living with a disability.
Planned spending for schools
- The final £4 million of the council’s overall £9.7 million investment in the new social, emotional and mental health needs school in Brockworth will be delivered
- £6 million more will be committed towards the new secondary school in Cheltenham
- £7 million towards the new Bishop’s Cleeve Primary School
- £4 million towards the new Warden Hill Primary School
A further £19.2 million is set aside for a range of other school improvement and maintenance schemes across the county.
A range of cycle routes will benefit from almost £20 million investment, including Gloucester to Cheltenham (£10.1 million), Gloucester City Centre – cycle spine (£3.7 million) and Cheltenham to Bishop’s Cleeve (£5.3 million). There is also a further £500,000 investment planned for essential drainage works and almost £900,000 for highways maintenance.
The budget will allocate £30,000 to each councillor to spend on highways schemes within their division next year.
A further £1 million fund will also go towards tackling climate change.
The budget includes a council tax increase of 1.99%, which will secure around £9.5 million for services and a 1% adult social care levy, identifying around £3.7 million to help protect vulnerable adults. Based on a band D property, this equates to a £42 increase.
A meeting of full council will decide the council tax rate at a meeting in February.