Latest Kirklees Council budget ‘looks to the future’

Kirklees Council’s latest budget is a sign that local authorities are “beginning to turn a corner after too many difficult years”, its leader said.

The council has published its proposed budget for the next financial year, which included £27.6m of cuts to help close the gap on a budget black hole of £29.3m.

Labour councillor Carole Pattison said it gave Kirklees financial stability for the future, allowing it to “maintain and improve the services people rely on”.

The budget received criticism from other parties, with the Conservative group accusing it of “unaffordable” borrowing which may cause future financial difficulty.

The authority said £63m had been put aside to cover rising costs for services including social care for older residents and children who required support and protection.

Savings would focus on reducing administrative costs and maintaining a recruitment freeze for many council positions, it added.

The draft document also puts forward a £1.4bn investment programme in the Kirklees economy and infrastructure over the next five years.

The council opened a public consultation on initial budget proposals in December and changed some plans after feedback.

A proposal to reduce the size of grey bins was recently dropped, with the bins to remain at their current size.

The council’s network of 24 local libraries is set to retain its current level of staffing support and opening hours, reversing a move to reshape the service in 2024.

Councillors will be asked to add £500,000 to the budget for winter maintenance to keep the transport network moving during cold weather.

Council tax will rise by 4.99% under the proposed budget, which would lift bills for a typical band D property by £1.80 a week.

It said this was in line with council tax increases expected across the country in 2025, with the increase including a 2% rise earmarked for social care services for older residents and people with disabilities.

Pattison said: “This year’s budget is a sign that we are starting to turn a corner after too many difficult years for local authorities across the country.

“Our proposals fix the foundations of our budget after years of austerity, but this budget looks to the future too.”

She continued: “We’ve made no secret of our ambition to build a thriving economy that provides jobs and opportunities for generations to come and that’s why these plans maintain our considerable investment in the Kirklees economy.”

The Conservative group raised concerns that the amount of borrowing required to fund developments in Huddersfield was “enormous and unaffordable”.

“All this borrowing needs to be paid back and this money cannot then be spent on other urgent priorities in the future,” it said.

Andrew Cooper, leader of the Green group, said the settlement the authority had received from the government showed “austerity has continued”.

The Liberal Democrats said the budget had been sold as being “back to basics” by the minority Labour administration, however it appeared to be “business as usual”.

“There needs to be a radical rethink of what kind of council we want to be and how we prioritise our spending,” the group said.

The budget will be presented to full council for final approval in March.

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