At a Special Council Meeting held on Friday, councillors approved a revenue budget of £141.362 million to spend on services in 2022/2023. The capital budget for 2022/23 onwards follows on from the significant work last year to develop a 20 year (£255m) rolling programme that marked a significant change in the council’s approach to its capital investment.

The capital investment programme includes:

• Wellbeing Campus - the council has committed to invest £15.3m to create a state-of-the-art Wellbeing Campus, including a swimming pool, and interim swimming pool arrangements.
• Family Wellbeing Partnership – Part of a wider programme of work aimed at preparing our young people for life, work and the future.
• Transformation Zones – An innovative approach which aims to improve the quality of life for our residents by improving economic performance through the creation of more and better paid jobs and development opportunities as well as sustainable health and social care.
• Community Wealth Building / Wellbeing economy – A people-centred approach to local economic development; is focussed on social goals, social justice, environmental sustainability, and prosperity for all.

The council also agreed increases in council tax and some service charges. Council Tax will rise by 3%, an increase of £39.14 a year for a Band D property. While some fees and charges will increase by 5.4% in line with inflation.

A total of £4.5m is included in the budget to cover inflationary increases in the council’s costs.

The meeting agreed that the £150 Cost of Living Award for households in council tax bands A to D and those in receipt of council tax reduction in bands E to H will be allocated to council tax accounts and deducted from annual bills across the year.

While tough decisions have had to be made as part of the 2022/23 budget setting process, this budget aims to minimise the impacts on the delivery of vital services to our residents and communities.

Council leader Ellen Forson said: “This budget has been set amidst a backdrop of steeply rising inflation and the impact of the pandemic, which has created unprecedented financial pressures. We’ve looked to minimise impacts on our communities, whilst our transformation programme has a strong focus on an investment led recovery, using our spending power to stimulate local economic recovery.”