West Sussex councillors approve multi-million pound 'reset plan'
It means a rise in council tax will take effect from April
A multi-million pound 'reset plan' to decide where West Sussex County Council should spend its money over the next four years has been approved.
Th authority has said the plan has been built around learning on their response to the coronavirus pandemic.
It includes additional day-to-day funding for adults and children’s social care, an extra £12m investment in highways, and £10m to address the challenges of climate change.
At a full council meeting on Friday, councillors also approved the budget for the coming year - including a 4.99% rise in council tax - and a revised and updated five-year capital investment programme.
The plan is part of the council’s improvement journey and guides how budgets are allocated and performance is measured.
West Sussex County Council has said its main priorities for the next four years are:
Keeping people safe from vulnerable situations
A sustainable and prosperous economy
Helping people and communities to fulfil their potential
Making the best use of resources
£10m is to be invested in tackling climate change over the next five years, which will be used to help the council become carbon neutral by 2030 by investing in low-carbon upgrades when carrying out routine maintenance and other projects.
This is in addition to £42m which is already allocated for future energy generation and storage projects to explore green energy technology, reduce the council’s reliance on fossil fuels, reduce carbon emissions, and generate a sustainable financial return for the council.
£12m additional investment will also be made in highway condition improvements on top of £87.5m already allocated in the capital programme to maintain and improve roads, cycle paths and pavements across the county.
Other projects and proposals in the five-year £666.5m capital programme include:
A new live training facility and fire station at Horsham, ensuring future emergency response needs are met, and new equipment keeping the service supported with state-of-the-art emergency resources
A range of investments in the Adults’ Social Care market
Additional school places, including more accessible places for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
The net annual budget includes more than £600m in revenue expenditure for the day to day running of the council. This year’s budget includes further investment (excluding inflation) of £22m in services with particular investment in Adults and Children’s Social Care.
Jeremy Hunt, West Sussex County Council Cabinet Member for Finance, said:
“Last autumn we were facing a budget gap of £43.6m for this coming year (2021/22). We have managed to bridge this gap through a number of measures including finding £18.5m in savings and efficiencies, a ‘pay pause’ in line with Government policy for many local government staff, an increase in council tax, and newly confirmed funding streams such as the government’s social care grant.
“Raising council tax is not something we do lightly, and we are extremely conscious that many people may be struggling financially at the moment.
“However, the alternative would be to cut essential frontline services which our residents rely on.
“Now more than ever we know that people need the services which local government provide so we will continue to look for ways to make efficiency savings, whilst still providing these vital services.”
An increase in council tax of 1.99% has been confirmed - plus an additional 3% for adult social care – making a total increase of 4.99%.
This puts the County Council element of an average band D council tax bill at £1,510.56 – or just over £4 per day. This is an increase of £71.82 per year or just under 20p per day compared to last year’s bill.
Jeremy Hunt added:
“Whilst we continue to look for ways to fund our essential day-to-day revenue expenses, I’m pleased to say we’ve also had a very exciting capital programme of over £660m that not only supports our residents today, but which will also help our county to prosper in the future.”