The Shadow Authority for Westmorland and Furness Council’s Cabinet has today agreed recommendations for the new council’s budget, including changes to council tax and spending plans for the next five years.
The recommendations will be considered at the meeting of the Westmorland and Furness Shadow Authority meeting on the 7th March, where a final decision will be made.
Cabinet’s recommendations on council tax follow a four-week public consultation, during which more than 1100 local people provided feedback.
The council tax recommendations that the shadow council cabinet agreed this morning at a meeting held in Barrow In Furness town hall will be made to the Shadow Council are:
To implement a 4.99% rise in council tax from 1 April. This is made up of a 2.99% basic increase plus another 2% specifically to help fund adult social care, known as the Adult Social Care Precept.
To harmonise council tax levels across the Westmorland and Furness area from 1 April this will see Council tax in Penrith and Eden have a 5.95% increase in the Westmorland and Furness council tax with Penrith town council Cumbria Police and Cumbria Fire precepts also forming the overall council tax bill for Penrith households.
The Cabinet also approved the recommendation to the full council to introduce a 100% council tax premium on second homes from 2024/25.
The consultation on the council tax increase resulted in 52.20% saying they disagreed with the proposal to increase the council tax.
However organisations that responded included the Cumbria Third Sector Network who’s response supported the increase proposal saying “The Executive group of Cumbria Third Sector Network is well aware of the budgetary pressures on local authorities as the result of large cuts in funding from national government. We are therefore, somewhat reluctantly, prepared to support the proposed 4.99% increase”
Two Eden parish councils also responded in support of the increase Askham and Helton parish Council and Melmerby Parish Council both said they “Agreed” with the proposed increase also.
The increase will mean a Band D property in Penrith and Eden will see a council tax level for the Westmorland and Furness council of £1,740.89 representing a £97.75 increase with Barrow households facing only a £48.09 increase representing a 2.84% increase.
This amount excludes other precepts such as Cumbria Police, Penrith Town Council and the new Cumbria Fire Precept that will be included in the new council tax bill as fire services are taken over by the Police and Crime commissioner’s office.
Cumbria Fire precept is proposed at £90 per household based on a Band D property.
Cumbria Police Precept is proposed at £297.15 per household based on a Band D property.
Penrith Town Council is proposed at £ £83.09 per household based on a Band D property.
The 2023/24 Council tax bill for band D properties in Penrith council is forecast to be £2,211.13.
Councillor Andrew Jarvis, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “I want to thank everyone for taking part in the consultation. It was really positive to have so many people share their views. We have reviewed the feedback and it’s very clear that there are many strongly held opinions about what we should do.
“Many people are concerned about the 4.99% rise in the current financial climate. We recognise that, but we are in a very difficult financial position in our first year as a new council.
“To not increase council tax would mean making significant and immediate changes to services that people rely on, changes we have been unable to plan for as a Shadow Authority. We don’t think that’s right. We know that some people that may find the additional cost difficult, that’s why we have ensured that we have a generous council tax reduction scheme available to help, including automatically treating an application for Universal Credit as an application for council tax reduction.
“There was broad support for our harmonisation plans, but we also noted the frustration that some people feel about it. Unfortunately, we are required by law to harmonise, but doing this in the first year means there will be a level playing field for next year.
“A clear majority of respondents were in favour of our plan to increase council tax on second homes, but respondents to the consultation also raised legitimate concerns about possible adverse impacts of the policy. We are committed to using the next 12 months to review the issue in detail before we proceed further.
“Generally, the consultation really demonstrated people’s frustration about how some council services work, or don’t work, for them or their area. We don’t have a magic wand, but we are ambitious for our area and committed to transforming our services over the coming years, making them more efficient, more effective and providing better value for money.”
Westmorland and Furness Council is acting in ‘shadow’ form as its councillors engage in the planning and preparation for Vesting Day on 1 April 2023.
The 1st of April 2023 is the point where Westmorland and Furness Council and its councillors will officially take over responsibility for all services across the Barrow, Eden and South Lakeland areas and the existing Barrow Borough, Eden District and South Lakeland District councils, along with Cumbria County Council, will be dissolved.
The new Westmorland and Furness Council is to create the locality boards that will mirror the existing council areas with budgets allocated to each area.
The proposed Budgets for the locality boars will see Eden receiving the smallest amount of budget funding allocation with South Lakeland receiving almost double the allocation of Eden.
The council tax proposals will now go before the full council of Westmorland and Furness for approval at a meeting scheduled to take place on Tuesday the 7th of March just 19 days before the council tax bills become due and the new council takes over.
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