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Rushcliffe Borough Council plans 2.46 per cent council tax rise

By Latifa Yedroudj, Junior Local Democracy Reporter

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Rushcliffe Borough Council plans to increase its part of household council tax bills by 2.46 per cent in April.

The proposed rise would see properties in council tax Band D will face an increase of £3.89 per year, bringing the annual charge to £161.77.

This means would mean Rushcliffe’s Borough Council tax would remain the lowest in Nottinghamshire from amounts agreed so far in other areas – although final total household bills will include county council and other bills.

Rushcliffe’s proposed increase is up slightly from last year’s rise, which was 2.55 per cent.

The rise is part of the council’s budget for 12 months from April, which will be discussed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, February 12.

A council report on the issue says a number of factors influenced this year’s budget, including the Government’s business rates reset being delayed to 2026/27.

Under the current system, councils keep up to half of the rates income they collect from businesses in their local area, with the rest kept by the government and used to provide grant funding for local authorities.

This business rates system is expected to undergo a national change, which may result in “fluctuations” in the revenue the council will get, making council budgets “harder to predict”, documents say.

The business rates change happens periodically to adjust the basic levels of business rates that local authorities are expected to collect and retain from local businesses.

The Conservative-run authority has set a budget of £6.676m in 2025/26 for Retained Business Rates income, (the income they receive from business rates across all businesses in the borough) but will drop this to £3.578m in 2026/27 when the reset occurs.

This is because they estimate the business rates basic baseline will decrease, leaving them with less funding.

The council will receive £1.478 million from the New Homes Bonus Payment this year.

However, the scheme will end this year – removing a key revenue stream for the council.

Residents will see an increase to certain charges to manage rising costs.

These include an additional £5 charge per year for second and subsequent household bins in 2025/26 and 2026/27 and longer-stay car parking charges in West Bridgford.

The concil is also committing to a £27.1m spending programme over the next five years to maintain and improve the borough.

Key projects include West Bridgford town centre regeneration, improvements to leisure and community facilities, investment in play areas and parks and continued support for the Freeport and Combined Mayoral Authority initiatives.

Cllr Davinder Virdi (Con), Portfolio Holder for Finance, Transformation and Governance at Rushcliffe Borough Council told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We’re under financial pressures and we’re not making service reductions.

“We want to improve services and grow the borough.

“Overall, we plan to balance the council’s budget over the next 5 years, we’re in a very good position to do that.

“This is not by accident – we worked hard over a long period of time, we do generate efficiencies and we are thinking about the future.

“This is despite our core spending power, which has only increased by 0.9 per cent.

“With inflation at 2 per cent, this is a real cut in funding for us – we have to raise revenues to continue to deliver services effectively.

“We have the lowest council tax in Nottinghamshire. That increase is less than 8p per week.

“Despite financial pressures we still have an ambition for our residents and a capital programme.

“We will continue to invest in our leisure facilities upgrade and focusing on climate change to acquire land for carbon offsetting.

“We will also invest in fleets for refuse collection and ICT (information and communications technology).

“We’re in a very stable position, and that’s being created by our prudent sensible decision making.”

Final household council tax bills in Nottinghamshire include portions for either the county or city council, plus a district or borough council, and contributions for the police and fire services.

All these authorities are now setting rates for the year ahead.

The final total household bills known will be known in March.