WOKINGHAM’S spending plans for the next year were given the go-ahead last night — despite concerns from opposition councillors.
Borough council bosses have £129 million to spend on their day-to-day services over the next twelve months, which will be funded with the help of a 3.99 per cent increase in council tax.
On top of this, residents will be asked to pay another £65.89 on average to fund their parish or town services — with Woodley inhabitants set to pay the most (£112.88) and Swallowfield taxpayers contributing the least (£19.19).
But it was the big plans to splash out on infrastructure across the borough which sparked debate.
Capital spending plans show authority chiefs want to shell out £46 million on road investments, £16 million on climate emergency measures and £65 million on regeneration schemes before April 2021.
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Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) leader Cllr John Halsall (Conservative) said: “It is an ambitious but robust budget.
“It achieves the careful balance of safeguarding the vulnerable in our community and delivering services to everybody.
“The revenue budget is in surplus and the capital budget reflects our ambitions.”
Over the course of the next three financial years, these infrastructure plans will see the authority spending £516 million across its departments.
This means WBC is expected to borrow £678 million by March 2023 to fund these projects and other schemes.
In his speech, Cllr Halsall said all borrowing is “asset-backed”, meaning money goes on infrastructure which appreciates in value and debt will “decline rapidly” after 2022/2023.
But Cllr Imogen Shepherd-DuBey, Liberal Democrats’ finance guru, was not convinced.
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She said: “I have great concerns about the amount of borrowing in this budget.
“All the way through these documents, the amount of money expecting to be borrowed seems to be much more than previous years.
“It feels like our Conservative leadership is borrowing like tomorrow will never come without a suitable, achievable plan to pay off these debts.”
Liberal Democrats leader Cllr Lindsay Ferris unveiled a seven-point-plan for the council should his party take power, which includes making WBC ‘resident-focused’, improving children and adult social care, “ethical” financing and more.
Many opposition councillors quizzed the figures linked to the capital budget, with some suggesting WBC is not really spending £50 million on climate emergency measures as certain spending lines had been moved from other budgets.
Labour Cllr Carl Doran said: “Most of this so-called budget is just re-badged spending that has long been planned, going back years.
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“It’s all there in previous [plans], with identical figures (apart from the ones you’ve cut, like Greenways).
“So, as a budget for dealing with the climate emergency, there’s nothing concrete in it at all — unless you count the spending on roads.
“It is wholly misleading.”
After a debate which lasted 90 minutes, councillors voted on four different financial papers.
All councillors but the Labour group voted for the housing revenue account budget and the capital budget.
The Lib Dems and Labour voted against the treasury management strategy paper, which outlines the council’s borrowing strategy, but the Conservative vote ensured the document passed.
WBC’s revenue budget also sealed approval after the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats voted for the plans, with Labour voting against.
Budget papers were discussed at a meeting on Thursday, February 20.
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