Tax to rise 1.95 per cent as council approves budget

District residents will see the tax they pay to Cannock Chase Council go up by 1.95 per cent in April.

This means Band D households will pay £230.04 in 2022/23 to Cannock Chase Council – up from £225.64 in 2021/22.

The funds will help pay for services such as bin collections and parks and open spaces. And the council is also set to invest in projects such as the regeneration of Cannock town centre, which was awarded £20m from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund last year.

Council Olivia Lyons spoke of the authority’s plans at a meeting on Wednesday, where fellow members voted to approve the budget.

She said: “We are pleased that the sum of £20m features in this year’s budget to finance an ambitious redevelopment scheme enabling the demolition of the eyesore that is the multi-storey car park and indoor market hall, designing a new cultural hub, refurbishing the Prince of Wales Theatre and creating social space, bars and office workspace.

“For 2022/23, £559,000 has been transferred to Housing, Heritage and Leisure to help alleviate post-pandemic disruption to leisure and support our contractor, Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles and £108,000 has been transferred to Environment and Climate Change, representing reduced parking income. Parking is something this administration is keen to revisit.

“National Covid support enabled us to run a parking pilot in Rugeley and Cannock whereby grants were issued to shops and businesses to refund customers’ parking, making it free for two hours. The results of that pilot are now being considered ahead of a wider parking strategy.

“The council’s waste costs will increase by £342,000 as we move from co-mingled collection to dual stream, effectively to better separate our waste. I want to be clear about this – it is a ‘future cost saving’.

“If we were to continue to recycle in the current way it would cost the council four times more to dispose of, meaning taxpayers would pay four times more for the same service. Not only that, improving the quality of recycling improves the circular economy and reduces carbon emissions.”

Just over £44m has been budgeted for the council’s Levelling Up work. Earlier this month a council scrutiny committee meeting heard that the authority would need to borrow money to help fund the project.

The 1.95 per cent council tax rise follows similar increases in previous years.

Councillor Lyons, who became leader of the authority in May after Labour lost control to the Conservatives, said: “This is difficult for me. When delivering our ‘alternative budget’ in 2019/20 I stated that an increase risks adding an additional financial burden to already stretched households. Last year I stated that any decisions on precepts must be carefully weighed up in the context of the pressures facing the authority.

“I still agree with that today. We must take care, weigh up our options and assess need. This council has provided unprecedented support during the pandemic and residents rely on the services we provide.

“The decision before us is whether we continue with the previously proposed 1.95 per cent increase or look at which services to reduce. To make that decision we looked at the impact. It is less than inflation and Band D properties would be charged £230.04 a year. This is an increase of £4.40 on year – less than 9p per week.

“There are no cuts to frontline services proposed within this budget.”

In previous years alternative budgets have been presented for consideration by political groups that are in opposition to the main party in charge.

But this year no alternative budget proposals came forward.

Former council leader George Adamson, who is now leader of the opposition and Labour group, described the Conservative administration’s budget as “a continuation budget” following a second year of being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He added that a 1.95 per cent council tax increase for 2022/23 had previously been proposed a year ago by the former administration, which was why the Labour group did not put forward an alternative budget this year.