Council tax in Nottingham to rise almost six per cent

Video: Protesters gathered in Old Market Square before the budget was approved

By Kit Sandeman, Local Democracy Reporter

Councillors have voted to approve a budget which will see council taxes rise and £27 million worth of cuts made over the next financial year, despite public protests.

Council tax in Nottingham will rise by 5.99 per cent across the city, meaning council bills for the average house (Band D) property will go up by £109.61 a year from Saturday, April 1.

People living in Band A properties – those valued below £40,000 – will now pay £1,307.56 a year towards council services such as adult social care, bin collection, and street cleaning.

Some of the money also goes towards policing and the fire and rescue services.

Those in Band H properties in Nottingham – the most expensive houses – will pay an additional £221.84 a year, bringing the total to £3,922.32.

Despite increases in the amount people pay in tax, the council is making savings in a range of areas including 200 staff redundancies, increasing fares and reducing frequency of Linkbus services, supporting more older people in their own homes rather than in residential care, and making cuts to youth services including family support, youth offending and play services.

The council was facing a ‘perfect storm’ of pressure on its funding, according to deputy council leader Graham Chapman, who represents the Aspley ward for Labour.

He said ever-growing demand for services such as adult social care due to an ageing population, and continued reductions in the amount of funding coming from central government was forcing the council to make difficult decisions.

The deputy leader also added he was ‘proud’ that the council was now ‘the most commercial in the country’, and was generating revenue which helped minimise the impact of cuts.

Nottingham City Council tax rises loxley house
Nottingham City Council says pressure on its budgets mean cuts are inevitable.

He blamed the Government for reducing funding to councils from £126 million in 2013-14 to 35 million next year, and said: “For seven years I have had to announce cut after cut, service reduction after service reduction and redundancy after redundancy.

“It is a numbing process and there seems to be no end in sight. This is happening all over the UK.

“It is part of a Conservative philosophy we have been edging towards for consecutive years.”

However a spokesman for the government said it was giving councils like Nottingham more freedom to set their own budgets.

Several proposed amendments to the budget were suggested by Conservative councillor Andrew Rule, who represents the Clifton North Ward, and is one of two Tory councillors in the city.

These included stopping the council’s Arrow magazine being delivered to houses, imposing a limit on the number of free bulky waste collections to two per year per person, and offering a voluntary two-month extension to the garden waste collection scheme.

Councillor Rule said these amendments would save the council more than £1m over the next year, which would: “Enable hard-working families to keep more of the money they earn.”

The amendments were rejected ‘overwhelmingly’ at the full council meeting, but council leader Jon Collins, who represents the St Ann’s Ward for Labour, said the authority was already considering offering extended garden waste collection.

Councillor Nick McDonald represents Bulwell Forest Ward for Labour, and is responsible for adult social care in the city.

He said: “This is not a budget we should be happy to put through, we put it through because we have to, because this government continues to hammer cities like Nottingham.”

jon-collins-nottingham-city-council-leader
Council Leader Jon Collins said it was a “good budget in very difficult circumstances”.

Councillor Jon Collins said: “I know that for some people it is difficult to pay that council tax, but if we are to maintain the services people rely on then sadly in the absence of support and help from a conservative government then we have to make the decisions that we are making in this budget today.

“This is a good budget in very difficult circumstances, delivered by a council that’s working well for the interests of the city.”

All Labour councillors present voted in favour of the budget. The two Conservative councillors rejected it.

Protests were held before the meeting by protest group Nottingham Housing Justice Forum, which argued that the council should not make any cuts at all.

Campaigner Annie Rutter said: “The council has basically blamed the Government. I think the council hasn’t done enough to challenge the government. They are the executioner with the velvet noose.

“The cuts they are implementing are going to affect the most vulnerable in our community.”

Speaking about the protest, city council portfolio holder for planning and housing, Councillor Jane Urquhart, said: “Nottingham Housing Justice seems not to have understood that the Government has carried out some of the severest cuts in the country to the council’s funding.

“This has forced us to make £27m of savings to our budget for the forthcoming year, on top of £204m of savings over the last seven years. So unfortunately, ‘no cuts at all’ is just not possible.

“However, despite the cuts, we are absolutely committed to increasing affordable housing and have also set aside £32m over the next nine years to tackle homelessness, including reducing the use of bed and breakfast accommodation.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “As part of our finance settlement we are delivering a real terms increase in resources to councils over the next two years, more freedom and fairness, and greater certainty to plan and secure value for money.”