A SQUEEZE will be felt across Herefordshire’s public services as the county council forges ahead with savings of more than £14 million in the year from April – and council tax is going up by 4.99 per cent.

This is to produce a balanced budget, as it has to by law. A meeting of all councillors today (February 10) voted 24 in favour of the proposed budget as a complete package, with 22 against and one abstention, the speaker Coun Sebastian Bowen. Six councillors appeared to be absent from the vote.

Its budget outlined widening the area of Hereford where on-street car parking charges will apply, details of which are expected shortly, and increasing car parking charges by 10p an hour, along with a“phased increase” in residents’ parking permit fees.

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The council will also now “maximise the effectiveness” of parking fines, while new roadside cameras to detect moving traffic offences will be brought in “across Herefordshire”.

While all Independents for Herefordshire and Green councillors, who together form a minority coalition controlling the council, voted for the taxing and spending plan, which included a 4.99 council tax increase, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and True Independents all voted against it.

Cabinet member for finance Coun Liz Harvey earlier told the meeting that with no alternative budgets having been presented by opposition parties, “the budget proposals before us are the only ones on the table, and have gone through rigorous examination”.

“Despite the challenges, the council proposes to spend more money on delivering services to Herefordshire’s residents than in 2022,” she said.

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Hereford Times: The council says it has plans for a better park-and-ride service for people who want to come into Hereford by bus rather than carThe council says it has plans for a better park-and-ride service for people who want to come into Hereford by bus rather than car (Image: Rob Davies)

The council will also save £80,000 from not collecting household bin collections on bank holidays, which will “slip a day” instead. And there will be higher charges for commercial and bulky waste collection.

It also aims to raise £50,000 from a trial scheme of issuing fixed penalty notices for littering.

But the biggest savings are to come from within community wellbeing, the department which includes adult social care and which consumes over a third of the council budget. Here, £6 million is to be saved through employing permanent rather than agency staff, and from more efficient working practices.

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The council also hopes to save £300,000 in the year ahead by vacating offices which are expensive to run or energy-inefficient. It will save a further £100,000 by publishing its thrice-yearly Herefordshire Now newsletter online only. And £20,000 will be saved by cutting staff mobile phone use.

The council earlier signalled its intention to raise council tax by the maximum five per cent from April, so increasing the total it gets from this from £120 million to £127 million. Business rates of more than £40 million and various Government grants make up the county’s total forecast income of £193 million.

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Conservative group leader Coun Jonathan Lester said the increases were “not justified”.

He said the “true cost” of cancelling the western bypass and southern link road, a decision made by the incoming coalition administration two years ago, was over £22.4 million, “which the council tax payer has nothing to show for”.

Meanwhile, since 2019 the council’s children’s services budget has gone from £27 million to a proposed £50.8 million, while since 2020/01 the council has drawn £22.6 million from its own reserves.

Cabinet member for transport Coun John Harrington said neighbouring Conservative-run authorities are also taking advantage of all, or nearly all, the permitted council tax rise.

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Even with this, “I have no idea how we, or whoever else is here, will manage to provide an appropriate budget for the residents of Herefordshire if we don’t get a change at national level,” he said.

True Independents group leader Coun Bob Matthews said he feared the “precepts” yet to be added onto the final council tax figure for police, fire and parish council services would also be “very large”.

These on top of the proposed main tax rise “will place a horrendous burden on the county’s taxpayers, without bringing the improvements in infrastructure we need”, he said.

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