Councillors of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council have agreed budgeted spending plans of £109.8m at their meeting on Wednesday, 19 February.
The £109.8m expenditure is broken down below as:
- General Fund Revenue Net Expenditure £20.8m
- General Fund Capital Expenditure £41m
- Housing Revenue Account Revenue Expenditure £32.1m
- Housing Revenue Account Capital Expenditure £15.9m
The budget sets out its detailed spending and funding, which was ratified at the Full Council meeting the same evening.
After a draft budget deficit for 2025/26 of £2.96m was forecast in December 2024. The Council made careful decisions to balance the budget for 2025/26 with a projected underspend of around £73,000 for the 2024/25 financial year.
Alongside previous years the budget was able to contain some growth with particular attention being paid to maintenance issues and IT systems to improve efficiencies and enable works to begin on a planned maintenance programme.
To achieve this, a Council Tax increase by the maximum limit of 2.99% was agreed, equating to a £7.88 a year increase in the Borough Council’s share to a band D property.
The remainder of the increase is received by Warwickshire County Council and the Office of the Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner. The Borough Council’s share equates to 11.32%.
Increases in fees and charges were agreed at 2.5%, although a flat £5 increase has been introduced to the green bin scheme subscription. This is the first time the green bin scheme has seen an increase in price since the £40 charge was introduced in 2018.
Council housing rents will increase by 2.7%, which adheres to the formula allowed by government of 1% plus September’s Consumer Price Index.
The Housing Revenue Account for the current year is projected to balance at a net zero position. Total income projections for 2025/26 are set at £32.1million.
Car Park charges have been revised to reintroduce the £1 for the first hour rate with reduced rates for town centre parking being available at Harefield Road multi-storey. In addition, all the ticket machines are being modernised to take contactless payments and to provide real-time feedback on usage.
Cllr Steve Hey, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Customer Service, said:
"I am delighted we have been able to produce a balanced budget which includes an improved approach to proper planning and maintenance.
“We have allocated resources to enable significant element of service delivery reviews such as waste services and street cleaning.
“Listening to our residents we are hearing loud and clear that they want a tidy borough and that is what we intend to deliver.”
Cllr Chris Watkins, Leader of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, said:
"We are concentrating our efforts to ensure that empty properties in the borough are brought back into use or the benefit of everybody.
“Money has been allocated in our budget to employ an officer to collate all the facts about the empty properties so that these can be brough back on to the valuation list.
“Funds have been included in the budget to continue building new Council properties which is one of the main concerns of the residents who contact me.
“I am proud of Nuneaton and Bedworth and this budget presents a first move towards making the borough a great place to live and work."