Worcester City Council's leadership backs £10.1m spending plan

The Tory leadership’s final plans for the next financial year, which it voted through in a meeting last night, includes:

- Car parking charges, which were slashed last year, will be frozen, as will the city's portion of the council tax, which makes up 11 per cent of a householder's bill

- A £25,000 fund to improve the riverside and a new £50,000 kitty to replace worn out play area equipment

- The council will carry on paying the Living Wage of £7.85 an hour to the lowest-paid staff, boosting morale of around 73 workers

- A previous Labour proposal to cut £80,000 from street cleaning will not be going ahead - £20,000 on replacing tatty and worn-out street name plates across the city

The budget, which will now go to a vote at full council on Tuesday, February 24 before launching from April, also includes all the Corporate Plan investments revealed by your Worcester News in December.

It includes £500,000 on improving city centre streets like Broad Street and The Shambles, £400,000 towards the Cathedral Square revamp, and up to £100,000 on supporting various city events like the Swan Theatre's 50th anniversary, the Worcester 10K race and 800 years of Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

The £10.1 million budget factors in £900,000 of savings with much focus around charging people more for services, including a 10 per cent rise in garden waste collection fees, from £47 to £52 for 5,015 people.

Adult cremations are going up seven per cent, from £700 to £750, as we first revealed two weeks ago.

One third of the New Homes Bonus, a Government fund handed over as a reward for pushing through property building, will now also prop up the budget for the first time, by £500,000.

The Living Wage decision comes after months of deliberations by Councillor Simon Geraghty, the leader, as we reported last year.

During the cabinet meeting last night Councillor Chris Mitchell, cabinet member for finance, said: "This is a budget which provides medium term stability to the city of Worcester while still protecting the essential services we rely on.

"There will be no cuts to services and we will continue to make improvements to the city, the place we all live."

Councillor Marc Bayliss, deputy leader and cabinet member for economic prosperity, said the street name plates investment we first revealed was on the cards over the festive period will have "real significance across the city".

During the meeting Labour opposition councillors criticised it, with group leader Councillor Adrian Gregson saying "where's the money coming from" to improve services if council tax is frozen.

During the debate he tried to push Cllr Mitchell for his view on the council tax next year.

Labour Councillor Roger Berry said the budget included "flash opportunities to improve the city" but "nothing to reduce poverty".

“There’s some really flash opportunities to improve the city centre here but I don’t see anything to reduce poverty,” he said.

“Are there are any proposals here to actually help those hard-pressed organisations that can make a difference?”

Councillor Simon Geraghty, the leader, pointed to more affordable housing which will become reality via the South Worcestershire Development Plan, city centre improvements having a “trickle down” impact on boosting the economy, and the ‘crisis fund’ discretionary welfare assistance scheme, which as we revealed earlier this week is being saved.

The 2015/16 budget will need backing from a majority of hands from the 35 councillors a week on Tuesday before kicking in.

It also includes the well-publicised £200,000 Gheluvelt Park Splashpad improvements, focusing on toilets, and the £200,000 Commandery improvements.

The proposal to freeze council tax at the Guildhall is the opposite of Worcestershire County Council, where a vote is taking place tomorrow on a 1.99 per cent rise, adding around £20.54 to the average band D bill.

The county council controls 72 per cent of the household rates, by far the largest beneficiary.