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Cabinet. The Cabinet makes most of the council's decisions.
Budget and council tax for 2025/26
The Cabinet noted and accepted the final funding settlement, extra packaging-recycling funding and the cost of pay, pension and National Insurance rises. It recommended to the full Council a budget requirement of £172.513 million and a 5.5% council tax rise, which sets the Band D charge (the standard household band) at £2,083.21. It also recommended extra service demands, fees and charges, service savings, use of £1.5 million from the budget reserve and a minimum revenue provision statement. The Director of Finance's comments on the robustness of the estimates and adequacy of reserves were also noted.
Full Council. Full Council sets the budget and council tax and approves major plans.
Budget requirement and council tax 2025/26
Council approved a budget requirement of £172.513 million for 2025/26. This is the net revenue budget, the money the council plans to spend on services in the year. It approved a council tax rise of 5.5%, with a Band D bill of £2,083.21, and the use of £1.5 million from the budget reserve. It also noted and accepted the settlement figures and approved the additional service demands, fees and charges, efficiency savings and minimum revenue provision statement. Cllr C Tovey's amendment to stop any growth in the Director's pay was refused after a recorded vote was requested.
Cabinet. The Cabinet makes most of the council's decisions.
Council budget and Council Tax for 2026/27
Cabinet noted and accepted the final funding settlement, the budget consultation results and the scrutiny feedback. It recommended to Full Council (all councillors) a Council Tax rise of 4.95%, which sets the Band D (the standard reference band) charge at £2,186.33. It also recommended a net budget of £183.690 million, extra spending demands, cost reductions, fee changes and budget adjustments. It recommended a Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) statement, the policy for setting money aside each year to repay borrowing. It noted the Director of Finance's comments on the robustness of the estimates and the adequacy of reserves.
Full Council. Full Council sets the budget and council tax and approves major plans.
Budget requirement and council tax for 2026/27
Councillors approved the report's recommendations, including a budget requirement of £183.690 million and a council tax rise of 4.95%. An amendment by Cllr D Hughes, that any budget surplus after the budget is set go back to residents as council tax support, was not carried.
Items are linked when their titles share most of their words and they fall within 18 months of each other. Councils don't number reports across meetings, so a few links may be wrong, and a step may be missing if its title changed a lot. Each step links to the meeting, where the council's own papers are.