“Alternative budget” plans, which included a freeze on brown bin charges and free festive car parking on Sundays in December, were put forward by Stafford Borough Council Conservatives but did not secure enough support to be adopted.
The Conservatives also proposed reducing the planned increase in members’ allowances from 3.5% to 2.5%—a move they said would save £11,520 a year—as well as cutting the proposed increase in funding for the borough’s new Local Plan from £508,000 to £30,000 over the next three years and freezing car parking charges.
However, at Tuesday’s full council meeting (February 11), councillors voted to approve the budget previously put forward by the authority’s cabinet last month, which includes Labour, Stafford Borough Independents, and Green Party members.
Under the approved budget, Stafford Borough residents will see a 2.99% increase in the council tax they pay for services such as bin collections and local parks—equivalent to just under 10p a week.
Councillor Ralph Cooke, cabinet member for resources, said:
“It is a rise of £5.19 over the whole year – but the final council tax bill for the borough will depend on the spending decisions made by others.
“Although we collect these taxes, we keep about 10% of what we collect. The vast bulk of it goes to the county council.”
Councillor Cooke also highlighted the uncertainty of local government funding in future years, particularly in light of national government proposals to replace the current two-tier council system with unitary authorities. If this happens, Stafford Borough Council would cease to exist, with its services delivered by a larger authority.
The Stafford Borough Conservative group’s alternative budget was presented by Councillor Mark Winnington, chair of the Resources Scrutiny Committee. It is the second year in a row that the opposition group has put forward its own budget proposals.
“We think (£508,000) is an atrocious amount to be spent on a Local Plan. We also feel that in the present environment for shops in the town centre, there should be a car park charge freeze,” Councillor Winnington said.
“We would also freeze brown bin charges and, over the festive period, allow free car parking on both Saturdays and Sundays. We feel there should be a winter fuel support fund of £40,000.”
Opposition group leader Councillor Jeremy Pert, who seconded the alternative budget, said of the brown bin charge freeze:
“We want to see more people recycle, yet you are taxing them into submission.”
The winter support fund was proposed to assist pensioners in need following the introduction of means-testing for the annual Winter Fuel Allowance by the Labour government last year. This change means the allowance is no longer given to those who do not receive Pension Credit, affecting more than 28,000 pensioners in Stafford Borough.
However, Councillor Cooke said there had been no business case or value-for-money assessment for the winter support fund proposal.
“There is no business case produced for this, there is no value-for-money demonstration. You are unclear what the benefits are going to be,” he said.
The council’s deputy leader, Rob Kenney, defended the Local Plan budget and countered the Conservative proposal to reduce its funding.
“Brown bins were originally free for all residents, but the charge was created by the previous administration,” he said, adding that the Local Plan is a legally required document.
