Council tax set to rise by almost 5% in Peterborough

Peterborough City Council has published its draft budget proposals, which include a council tax rise of 4.99 percent, which would begin in the new financial year.

Two percent of this is for adult social care precept – providing ringfenced funding for adult social care services.

An increase of 4.99 percent would add £75.43 per year (or £1.45 per week) to the city council element of the bill for a typical band D property.

The city council also introduced a rise in council of tax last year - of 2.99 percent.

Councillor Andy Coles, Cabinet Member for Finance and Governance, said the rise is essential to help the council pass a balanced budget and – as their budget simulator showed – residents were “supportive of the rise.”

The council has confirmed that its budget simulator received almost 200 consultations, with the draft budget itself receiving 50 responses during the consultation.

Councillor Coles said: “We know that residents are also facing their own financial challenges and we wish we did not have to ask them to pay more council tax, but we cannot deliver a balanced budget and continue to provide the services that people want and need without doing so.

"Our budget simulator feedback showed that residents were supportive of increasing council tax, with the average increase suggested as five percent.”

The council ran a consultation of on its priorities and saving and investment plans between December 5 and January 8.

The finalised budget will now go before the council’s Joint Scrutiny Committee on Monday January 23 before it is passed onto full council on February 22 for final sign-off.

The council has said that it is now in a position to pass a balanced budget as result of the council tax rise and a re-evaluation of all of its contracts to ensure it was getting the best value, while still meeting the needs of residents.

The key areas of the council's corporate strategy for 2023/24 are:

- Supporting people who are struggling the most, including through a network of community hubs.- Making the vibrant and feel safe.

- Investing £1.5million to create a growth, regeneration, and economic development service to drive forward plans to increase the number of homes, attract new businesses, create better jobs, and ensure that growth acts as a lever to address inequalities.

- Investing in measures to improve energy efficiency and cut carbon, increasing take-up of solar and other technologies across communities, plus increasing rates of recycling.

- Supporting more people to remain independent for as long as possible, through preventative and early intervention, technology-enabled care and reablement services.

- Driving forward the development of Family Hubs, using significant central government funding.

- A greater focus on recruiting foster carers

- Transforming of Home to School Transport, to providing more cost-effective transport.

Councillor Leader Wayne Fitzgerald: “We are now in a better position financially. Our forecasted budget gaps in future years look small.

“Peterborough is a city of opportunity with a positive future and there is so much of which to be proud.

"To benefit the most from the opportunities that we have - and to overcome the many challenges - we will continue to move towards becoming financially sustainable.”