Budget Week
Crawley Borough Council decides its budget on Wednesday 23rd February. In common with West Sussex County Council and the Sussex Police Authority, this year’s budget accesses a government grant to freeze the level of Council Tax. Nobody in Crawley will see an increase in their bill. This good news follows four years of Crawley setting the lowest Council Tax increases in all of Sussex.
Along with the other six West Sussex districts, Crawley has seen a big reduction in its formula grant from the government, with a decrease of almost 14%. This is one of the better grant settlements as the other six districts all have a bigger percentage reduction.
Despite these challenges, the Conservative administration will be tabling a positive budget. We will not see from Crawley Borough Council the large-scale cuts to services being meted out elsewhere in the country. To deal with the front-loaded reduction in government grant, we will make a temporary, one-off draw on revenue reserves of £1.7 million but we will not rely on this source of income alone. That would be an unsustainable cop-out. The budget also uses efficiency savings of £1.3 million.
The Council will return to a balanced revenue budget in 2012/13, with no direct draw on reserves. This strategy has real advantages because it reduces our dependency on interest paid on capital, meaning that we can spend the capital on new projects. Our budget adds a remarkable £5 million to new initiatives. These include more disabled facilities grants, spend-to-save projects for parks and open spaces; residential environmental improvements and new work on neighbourhood centres.
We have almost completed our enhancements to the 11 Council-owned neighbourhood parades, with Furnace Parade next up in March. For the first time, new funds of £500,000 are allocated for work on privately-owned parades in conjunction with partners including West Sussex County Council, the NHS and Sussex Police. First up will be Broadfield Barton.
Even in these difficult times, there will be revenue growth of £113,000 targeted at our most vulnerable citizens. This funding will support our processing of benefits together with accessible banking and financial advice services. Within Crawley Homes, new funding will support the recruitment of two apprentices. It has also been possible to hold housing rent rises to 5.5% instead of the government guideline figure of 6.8%.
The overall budget positions us well for future opportunities. We retain the resources necessary to enable regeneration projects in the town centre together with further improvements to the Manor Royal Business District. It also remains our objective to further develop our Crawley’s leisure and culture offer with new investment being sought for The Hawth and Tilgate Park.
This week, in difficult circumstances, we a have a budget that other local authorities would envy. At the same time as implementing a Council Tax freeze, we have new capital investment, new targeted growth in revenue spending, a moderated rise in housing rents and substantial efficiency savings. It is a compelling policy menu.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council
22nd February 2011