Lowest council tax increase for a decade thanks to partnership savings

Monday 1st February 2010

Adur Council's cabinet will recommend a council tax rise of 2.5 percent this year. This recommendation will go before a full council meeting on the 16 February for the final decision. This is the lowest rise in council tax for at least a decade and is thanks to the partnership with Worthing Borough Council, which has so far netted £2.2 million in savings.

The average band D council tax would increase from £255.78 per year to £262.17 per year which is a little over 12p a week. This is for the Adur Council part of the council tax - precepts from West Sussex County Council and Sussex Police have yet to be finalised.

Council leader, Neil Parkin said: “There’s no doubt that the partnership has enabled our financial situation to be better than many other councils who are faced with the dilemma of cutting services. The savings have made it possible for us not only to protect services but also to improve them for Adur residents. We will continue to be prudent with your money and improve our services.

“The official word from the chancellor is that the recession is over, I could argue with him that the millions of people who have lost their jobs wouldn't agree with that statement. What I would say though, is that we may not feel any change in the economic climate yet, but we do need to be ready to grasp opportunities when the financial outlook improves.

“When this happens we want to get on with regeneration schemes and work with developers on new ones. So we are going to employ someone to work on major economic regeneration projects which will lead to more affordable housing and improvements in our communities.”

Posted by Kim for Adur District Council