RESIDENTS in Basingstoke and Deane will see their council tax bills increase by £5 a year from this year until 2026, if plans are given the go-ahead.

The borough council is set to increase its portion of the council tax as part its budget proposals, which has been called a ‘Conservative Budget’. Residents living in a Band D property will see their bill rise to £136.42 for 2022-23.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council only take 10 per cent of the council tax residents pay, so if Hampshire County Council decide to increase taxes, residents could be hit with a further hike.

In an exclusive briefing with the Gazette, cabinet member for finance and major projects Cllr John Izett laid out a number of changes expected to be made as part of the authority’s latest budget, ahead of the plan being laid out to Cabinet tomorrow (Tuesday).

READ MORE: Residents face £5 tax hike

Cllr Izett said the budget will help the council find more than £1 million to invest in frontline services including additional staff for grounds maintenance and customer reception.

In the budget proposal prepared in November, the council had plans to withdraw its funding for festivals like the Basingstoke Kite Festival and the Transport Festival and reduce the grants to community and voluntary organisations by £130,000. However, based on the budget consultations over the past three months, the council has decided to postpone these plans for this financial year to help the organisers adjust to the proposed cuts. They are likely to come into effect in 2023-24.

The plans to reduce the concessions for pest control have also been withdrawn.

Cllr Simon Bound, acting leader of the borough council, said the council is acutely aware of its role in in reducing the impact of Covid as the country comes out of it.

“The budget focuses on what our residents need and want from us front and centre,” Cllr Bound said.

“There's all those things that they see every day like maintaining the green spaces. But they really need us to look after the things that go behind the scenes, like looking after the economy to make sure we remain an area of low unemployment, support our community groups.”

Calling it a ‘Conservative Budget’, Cllr Izett said: “Our finances are in a strong position and in safe hands.

“We're not an administration that thinks there’s a money tree. We know that we're going to have to pay our way. In the context of what has been a pretty turbulent period over the last two years, and the inflation pressures beginning to develop, we've taken the necessary measures early on.

“And by taking those measures, finding the savings and not incurring costs, we find ourselves at this point in early 2022, able to provide a balanced budget. Also, by looking ahead, I can see that we've got a balanced budget available for us for next year.”

Director of corporate services Sue Cuerden said part of the budget is recognising the additional resources that the council needs to take forward to tackle its ambitions, such as the climate change plan.

“We are releasing monies from our climate change reserve to pay for climate change officers, who are significantly progressing a number of actions. So some of those will impact on our revenue budget, and where we were investing our monies from a capital point of view. It impacts our treasury management strategy,” Ms Cuerden said.

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“One of our key focuses linked to our new strategic asset management plan is how we manage our own assets.”

Chief executive Russell O’Keefe said: “There is a whole far-reaching programme that's funded with the budget. But there's also quite tangible things such as increasing the number of electric charges, so that people move into electric vehicles.”

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