Council agrees budget for 2023-2024
Councillors met for the second part of the special budget meeting to debate and vote on council budget for the coming financial year.
The special budget meeting started last Wednesday (1 March 2023) when Leader of the Council, Cllr Shaun Gunner presented the budget statement for the 2023-2024.
At that meeting Cllr Jamie Bennett (Liberal Democrat) put forward an amendment to freeze the proposed 2.99% increase in the Arun District Council proportion of Council Tax (this equated to £5.87 a year for a Band D property) and draw on reserves to make up the shortfall. This was voted on and agreed before the meeting was adjourned.
When the meeting recommenced last evening (9 March 2023), councillors voted on the whole budget, as amended to include the 0% Council Tax freeze. This was not carried, with 22 votes for, 23 against and two abstentions. This meant that members then had to recommence debate, considering the original budget with the 2.99% Council Tax increase.
As the meeting continued, Cllr Isabel Thurston (Green) proposed a new amended to the budget. Instead of a council tax freeze, this amendment additional £100,000 to the council tax hardship fund to provide targeted help for those that need it most and £100,000 to further support the council’s green agenda and target to be net zero by 2030. This amendment will be funded from reserves. This was voted through. Following debate, the final vote for the proposed budget, to include the amendment from Cllr Thurston, was carried with 37 votes for, four against and five abstentions.
Cllr Shaun Gunner, Leader of the Council said:
“Last year the council passed our Vision for the next few years into four themes - improving the wellbeing of Arun, delivering the right homes in the right places, fulfilling Arun’s economic potential and supporting our environment to support us. This budget addresses the work of this council in each of these areas.
For wellbeing we continue to support Freedom Leisure with Littlehampton Wave and in particular the refurbishment of the changing facilities at the Arun Leisure centre.
We are working with Littlehampton Town Council to deliver the new Keystone Youth Centre and our work in our community hubs in Wick and Bersted Green will continue, as will the community wardens. We have already agreed our Cost of Living support, further demonstrating our commitment to improving the lives of people in our communities.
We are keen to ensure we deliver the rights homes in the right places and we have allocated a sum in the budget to begin a review of the Local Plan. This council will continue to take robust action against developers chosen to develop out speculative sites, rather than delivering on the pre-agreed housing sites that this council has in the current Local Plan.
We have worked on the Housing Revenue Account to ensure we’ve got around £2 million in the budget on sheltered accommodation to help some of our most vulnerable tenants. And we’ve increased the repairs and maintenance budget.
With a focus on fulfilling Arun’s economic potential, this budget has saved the Arundel Festival and we have allocated money for events, including the Hotham Park Christmas lights that were enjoyed by so many.
Our partnership working with West Sussex County Council continues. We are working together to deliver numerous projects - all with the aim of improving our district and making it a prosperous place to work and invest in.
Finally, the environment, a subject close to my heart. Our commitment on climate change continues, and the council will continue to reduce its carbon emissions. We continue our plan to plant 35,000 trees and we topped up our Community Flood Fund which will help communities such as Climping and Pagham, as well as in Middleton where we recently invested £79,000.
We have six Green Flag Award-winning parks, more than any other council in West Sussex and with the investment we are putting into Bersted Brooks as part of the country park project, we hope that the people of Bersted will be proudly hosting at least our seventh Green Flag. We are investing in play equipment across the district, as well as the transformation project for Littlehampton seafront, thanks to the Government grant from the Levelling Up Fund. And thanks to Cllr Thurston’s amended we now have an additional £100k in this budget to support our green agenda.
This budget is about delivering for our residents, supporting our high streets, our businesses, our environment, and our people.
You can find the papers and a recording of the meeting here: Arun District Council