REDCAR & Cleveland Borough Council’s Cabinet has agreed to continue with its proposed plans for an additional £8 million investment programme as part of its Medium Term Financial Plan.
Cabinet discussed the authority’s plan at the Redcar & Cleveland Leisure and Community Heart earlier yesterday, Tuesday 24 January.
The plan is designed to provide a balanced budget for three years at the same time as delivering £25.6 million of budget cuts across these three financial years.
In December, Cabinet also made a decision on the 2017/18 budget and proposed increasing Council Tax by 1.99% and the Adult Social Care Precept by 2% from April 2017. Since then the Government has allowed councils to increase the Adult Social Care Precept by a further 1%. However, Cabinet has decided not to progress that in order not to add to the burden on tax-payers.
A public consultation was held after the December decision with 113 responses and has now been considered by Cabinet as part of its deliberations.
The budget proposals also include establishing a £250,000 annual investment to deliver the council’s Visitor Destination Plan to improve and promote the borough’s offer to tourists.
Councillor Sue Jeffrey, Leader of the Council, said: “We know that people in our community understand the difficulties we face in dealing with severe Government cuts whilst also delivering a legally required balanced budget over the next three years. We have decided not to increase the Adult Social Care Levy any further than we previously agreed in order to avoid any more to the burden on our residents.
“Of course, none of us in the Cabinet wanted to make these reductions to the budget but we are steadfast in our commitment to deliver a major, multi-million pound growth strategy to boost our economy while at the same time protecting the most vulnerable people in our society.”
Cabinet was informed that the authority’s main grant from the Government will be cut by £6.09 million in the coming financial year, a reduction of 28.3%. Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council will have reduced its overall budget by £92.9 million from 2010 by April 2020 based on current projections.
The proposed £8 million investment programme is for the whole borough, including the town centres of Redcar, Eston, Loftus, Guisborough and Saltburn, industrial estates and other villages, communities and neighbourhoods.
The budget for 2017/18 will now be debated by the Borough Council on 23 February when a final decision will be made.