Members of Westmorland and Furness Council meeting at County Hall voted in a named vote to increase the councils share of the Council Tax by 4.99% made up of a 2.99% increase in the general council tax and a 2% increase in Adult Social care.
Only members of the conservative group on the council voted against the motion.
The council then voted on the setting of the council tax demand that will see residents in Penrith see an across the board increase in all parts of the council tax from April.
With members of the conservative group voting against and Labour and Libdem councillors all voting to approve the council tax for 2024/25.
Full Council also voted through to approve charging the empty homes Council Tax premium of 100% after 1 year empty rather than 2, and have a 300% premium (400% overall charge) for properties empty after 10 years – both are applicable from the 1 April 2024.
The council also approve the introduction of a 100% Council Tax premium on second homes effective from 1 April 2025 plus an updated capital programme 2023-2029 and Treasury Management Strategy and a new five year Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2024 – 2029.
The approval of the budget at todays meeting in Kendal means the council has achieved a balanced budget for 2024/25, which meets its legal requirement and has avoided having to issue a section 114 notice effectively declaring bankruptcy by using millions from the councils reserves and making £10million of savings while the council claims protecting front line services.
Cllr Andrew Jarvis, Cabinet Member for Finance, has said:
"As a new council we have spent a lot of effort in our first year (2023/24) focusing on stabilisation and the need to get our basics right. We have been building the strong and sustainable foundations that we need now and for the future.
"We have started to deliver on the ambitions set out in our council plan to create Westmorland and Furness as a great place to live, work and thrive and sound finances are at the very core of us achieving this.
"The cost of living continues to be a concern and inflation, although settling, is still uncertain and is driving up the cost of delivering services to those who need them most. Demand for our services continues to rise and there is ongoing uncertainty about what future funding we can expect from central government.
"For 2024/25 we have worked hard to achieve a balanced budget, that will allow us to invest in and maintain our services. Although, to achieve this we also had to draw on our reserves.
"We know that we cannot keep relying on the one-off use of reserves. As we look ahead we will need to change the way we work if we are to continue delivering efficient and effective services to our communities while securing our long-term financial sustainability.
"Finally, I am very proud that we are able to commit to investing over £100million into our communities through an ambitious capital programme in 2024/25 (and £500m over a six year period). We are already working with partners and communities to ensure that this money is invested in projects and schemes that will make a real difference to people's lives and to our communities."
Since the creation of the Westmorland and Furness Council on 1 April 2023, the council has been working hard to stabilise and deliver real improvements on the ground to its residents and its communities.
Its council plan lays out an exciting future and clearly articulates its ambitions to make Westmorland and Furness a great place to live, work and thrive.
The council is committed to supporting people to have healthy lives, reduce inequality, drive delivery of carbon net zero, support its communities and enable sustainable economic growth. Its unswerving focus on these issues has already made a positive difference. In its first year (2023/24), ahead of the £10m investment in growth areas and capacity for 2024/25, the council invested £5m in its priority areas that have already directly benefited many residents and communities.
The council also prior to setting the budget and increased council tax approved to to give itself a 3.88% rise in councillors allowance and a substantial increase for its cabinet and leadership councillors.
The labour group of councillors also tabled an amendment that the general membership and special responsibility allowance of some committee chairs should be looked at again and brought back to a council meeting in June with the view to further increase members allowance payments.
The amendment caused a 10 minute break to the meeting for consideration with the council on reconvening to debated how to vote on the recommendations in scenes akin to the scenes witnessed in Westminster on Wednesday. The Westmorland and Furness Council chamber underwent a back and forth with the chair appearing to lose his way by calling for a vote before members had been allowed to speak and then backtracking to allow members to speak and finally agreeing to vote on each of the five recommendations individually.
The council vote finally resulted in all five recommendations been approved with cabinet members now receiving a substantial increase in allowances for the role and all councillors receiving a 3.88% increase in the current allowance.
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