Council publishes final budget proposals

14 January 2010

Final proposals for Canterbury City Council’s budget for 2010/11 have been published today (Thursday 14 January).

The plans will be considered by the council’s Executive on Thursday 21 January, before the full council meets on Thursday 18 February to consider their recommendations and to set the final budget.

The budget, and medium term financial plan, has been put together in a very challenging economic climate, and with uncertain financial times ahead, it has been one of the toughest the council has ever had to set. The council has to ensure that its finances remain sound over a number of years, and is setting plans for the next two years so as to avoid too much disruption.

While there has been some relatively good news for 2010/11 with the amount of government grant remaining at the expected level, the council is predicting, in line with national forecasts, major cuts in grant from 2011/12 onwards, when it is likely that local government funding will be reduced, whichever political party is in power nationally.

The council is also anticipating that, following the General Election, the new government will immediately reduce more specific grants the council receives, which would cause problems for the 2010/11 budget. The council therefore has to make financial plans for more than one year.

Canterbury’s approach has therefore been to take action now to avoid greater pain later, and the council has set about finding around £3 million of savings over the next two years. The aim has been to keep council tax rises to a minimum and protect frontline services where possible, with the savings coming mainly from discretionary services that the council can choose to provide. The council is also looking at longer term approaches to delivering services more efficiently, including working jointly with neighbouring councils to achieve economies of scale.

During autumn 2009, the council carried out an extensive consultation exercise with local residents to seek their views on the proposed changes that affected them most. More than 1,000 responses were received from paper and online surveys, consultation events and letters and emails submitted by residents, community groups and organisations, and these have been analysed over the last few weeks.

The medium term financial position is anticipated to be so difficult that there is limited room for movement, and it is important the council remains financially strong in the current climate. As a result, most of the proposals will be recommended to the full council meeting, but the council has been able to make some changes to address some of the concerns raised by residents.

Clear sacks: The proposal to charge for extra clear recycling sacks has been dropped in response to comments from the public. Instead, the council intends to take action to limit the number of sacks that are issued but not collected, because 45 per cent of sacks (2,500,000) never get returned to the council with recycling in them. This costs the taxpayer £100,000 a year. Options are currently being considered on how this problem can be tackled, including the possibility of people who want extra sacks having to pre-register.

Public toilets: It is still proposed to close six toilets, but in response to comments from people in rural areas, the council will offer the running of the toilets in Sturry and Chartham to the parish councils in the two areas, with financial support from the city council for two years, to try and keep them open.

Roman Museum: It is still proposed that the museum be closed, but, as originally suggested, the council will move many of the genuine exhibits to the Museum of Canterbury in Stour Street so that the history of the city is told in one place and can be enjoyed by residents and visitors, and the schools that currently use the museum. The council will actively explore commercial proposals to maintain and develop the space as a museum or heritage attraction or other suitable option. But whatever the outcome, the council will ensure people will still have access to the Roman Pavement as it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and part of Canterbury’s historical heritage.

Herne Bay Museum: Most of the opposition to the closure related to the importance of school visits and educational activities. The proposal at the museum was, and is, to create a new museum education space, with exhibition cases and displays, on the ground floor, and to move some of the exhibits to more relevant locations, such as the Bouncing Bomb display to its natural home at Reculver. The council will continue to work closely with the local community to develop events and activities, and the Foreshore Operations Team will move into the upper floor.

Christmas lights: The proposal to cease Christmas lights displays and have all year round lights instead has been dropped. Christmas lights will continue to be provided for the moment, but the council will be looking at other options.

Westgate Hall: The council currently subsidises the cost of running the Westgate Hall by at least £100,000 a year. The hall is no longer fit for purpose and needs more than £450,000 spent on it to bring it up to date. Canterbury now boasts a growing number of venues offering significantly better facilities than at the Westgate Hall, so the plan remains to close and demolish it. However, the council will work with users of the hall to find them alternative venues for their activities. The site is a potential area for redevelopment, but in the short term would be used to provide additional car parking space.

All other proposals, including staff reductions, closing the Whitstable divisional office but keeping a level of service elsewhere in the town, and reducing grants to voluntary organisations and contributions to parish councils, are recommended to go ahead.

Plans to raise an additional £266,000 from car parking charges, including introducing charges on Herne Bay seafront, are also set to go ahead, although overall there will no change to tariffs in almost 50 per cent of spaces. Parking in Canterbury district will remain good value for money when compared to similar towns and cities.

Council Leader Cllr John Gilbey said: “We had a very strong response to the public consultation and it is clear a lot of people took the time to read the proposals and let us know what they think. In an ideal world, we would not be making any cuts in services, but the financial situation means we have little choice. However, we are not making cuts in any statutory services.

“One of the most controversial issues was the change to the museum service. We recognise the importance of museums to young people, visitors and residents, but it is unusual for a district of our size to have as many as six museums. A substantial museum offer will still be available across the district, and the Museum of Canterbury is set to be considerably improved as we move exhibits from elsewhere into it.

“Many people also objected to the clear sacks proposal. Canterbury district has had a recycling record to be proud of over the last few years, and going ahead with the plan could have threatened this, so I am pleased we have been able to drop it. However, we must sort out the problem of so many sacks being used for purposes other than recycling.

“It is no exaggeration to say this has been the toughest budget ever, but it is likely that things are only going to get worse in the future, with funding for local government set to be slashed. The council will take the action required to ensure it remains financially sound during the difficult times ahead.”

For more information about the budget, go to the 2010/11 budget pages.