Last night the budget was agreed for Conservative controlled Wokingham Borough Council. This year’s budget focused on our priorities and underlying principles and how our scarce resources are to be allocated. It is a budget that is prudent set against a backdrop of National austerity.
Here in Wokingham we are well used to being at the end of the funding queue. We have for many years been the worst funded authority in England. However with a Conservative Administration and excellent staff we have risen to the challenge of a 14% cut in funding in this current year and a further 10% next year.
Leader David Lee was proud to say that we will not be cutting services. Under this Conservative Administration and our Transformation Programme we have saved some £16 million over the last four years and, have set a budget to save a further £4.5 next year. We will continue with our Transformation Programme by continually striving to provide our services more efficiently.
· We will not be cutting any services, We will not be reducing our funding of voluntary organisations, We will not be increasing the Council Tax for a Second Year .
· Our Budget Priorities this year are:
Improving the Educational Attainment of all our children- we will do this by:
Continuing with our investment programme in schools, injecting a further £26 millions into our schools over the next three years, continuing to work with and provide support to our schools, governors and teachers who have achieved such tremendous results for our children. We will be focusing on our young people Not in Education or Training and providing further support to our young people in care by investing a further £1 million to support them as they move into adulthood. And we wil be building a brand new £500,000 Special Education Needs unit at one of our Primary Schools
Ensuring we have strong sustainable communities- we will do this by continuing to develop robust planning controls and by ensuring future developments bring with them the much needed infrastructure which has not always in the past been the case
Continuing to open superb community facilities such as the recently opened Rooks Nest Country Park. And the Gorse Ride Community Centre opened in Partnership with Finchampstead Baptist Church
Tackling Traffic Congestion
· This year’s budget provides funding of over £3 millions for the much needed Station Link Road which will relieve a major congestion Black Spot on our network. In addition the Budget allocates over £7 millions for much needed improvements to our road network and our Development Plans have also made provision for Relief Roads in Wokingham and a Bypass at Arborfield to name but a few.
Improved Customer Experience:
Our budget sees further investment proposed into our IT Facilities which will continue to improve the service we provide to our customers. Our Wokingham Direct One Stop Shop continues to win National Awards for the service they provide and continually seek to improve
Underpinning all our work will continue to be the Core Principles of this Authority which are:
Providing Excellent Value for your Council Tax
For the second year running we are proposing no increase in the Council Tax. And this in spite of continuing to be the worst funded authority at £119 per resident compared to an average of £358. We will continue our programme of providing our services more efficiently. This programme has saved £16 million in the last four years and next year we have budgeted to save a further £4.5 million giving a total of £20 millions in five years. We have reduced our staffing numbers over the last two years by 117 with very few compulsory redundancies, this has been mainly achieved by taking advantage of staff turnover – combined with smarter working.
Providing Affordable Homes
We will continue to provide a complete range of affordable homes and flexible home ownership opportunities for our residents especially our young people who find it so difficult to buy in this area. This year’s budget shows what can be done now we have bought out our Council Houses from Central Government and, no longer have to pay over half the rental income to other parts of the country. Conservatives are delighted to say that this budget allocates some £19 millions to improve our Housing Stock
The vulnerable in our Community will continue to receive an excellent service
This budget continues to show our commitment to those of our residents who need additional support. Alexandra House Extra Care facility at Woodley having been recently opened – and Beeches Manor is opening this year to provide much needed homes for our Learning Disabled and Dementia suffers. Work starting on the new Learning Disabled housing at Hillside using our own Local Housing Company. The Budget for Adult Social Care will increase this coming year to over £40 millions which includes an additional £1.1 millions towards preventative and mental health care – all of which is geared to helping people stay in their own homes near family and friends
Improving Health and Wellbeing.
We will continue with our programme of improving our parks, sports facilities and open spaces. New developments will bring with them four new Country Parks on top of our own recently opened park at Rooks Nest
Continuing commitment to Improve our Waste and Recycling
· Our residents are already one of the best groups in the country at recycling and this year we will be helping to boost this excellent record by maintaining our much valued weekly waste collection, introducing a weekly recycling collection service, expanding the Green Waste Collection to the whole Borough.
The next three years will be difficult and we must and will continue our constant challenge of how we provide and prioritise our services.
However we have a committed staff and determined Conservative Administration to see us through these difficult times.
We have in this Budget:
· Not Cut Any Services
· Not cut our voluntary budgets
· Not Increased the Council Tax
· Suffered a further reduction in Central Government Funding of 10.4%
· Continued to seek new ways of improving our much valued and improved library service having recently opened a new library unlike other councils who are closing these facilities
· Continued improving our children’s facilities on top of the recently opened two new Children’s Centres
· Continued to open excellent new facilities for our most vulnerable
· Maintained Weekly Waste Collection
· Introduced Weekly Recycling
· Introduced Green Waste Collection to the whole Borough
· Continued our school investment programme
· Continued to transform and make savings in all we do
· Started a major work programme to bring our Housing Stock up to date
· Started to make major improvements to our highways
· Provided for much needed new roads
· And maintained Reserves at a save level for potential Rainy Days ahead
and with a ZERO % proposed Council Tax increase for a Second Year.