Last minute changes to Bracknell Forest Council’s budget could have seen greater investment in car parks in Bracknell’s housing estates.

At a recent Bracknell Forest Council meeting, the budget for the 2023/24 financial year was agreed upon.

The budget is divided into a capital budget, which is used on maintaining and upgrading council assets such as leisure centres, and the revenue budget, which covers income such as those that come in from car parking charges.

But councillor Mary Temperton (Labour, Great Hollands North) attempted to amend the budget with a series of proposals.

Her ideas included removing £41,000 for a parking infrastructure upgrade, spending £44,000 on improving Great Hollands car park this financial year (rather than the Conservatives’ plan to upgrade it in 2024/5 and adding £100,000 in funding to improve parking in housing estates, which would total £300,000 alongside the £200,000 the Conservatives proposed.

READ MORE: Council taxes set throughout Bracknell Forest - how much you will pay

For the revenue budget, she suggested reducing weed spraying from three to two times per year, saving £28,000, with any additional costs for the proposals being met by using the Future Funding reserve of £76000.

She also criticised a system where councils have to bid for funding from the Department of Leveling Up, Housing and Communities.

Cllr Temperton said: “Throughout the budget papers there is references to grants.

“Some of these are ring-fenced but others have to be competed for. Preparing bids for this money is time-consuming and costly.  Every bid is said to cost about £30K.

“From a Freedom of Information response, the bid for £5m for the Deck in 2021 cost £15,000 for work done by officers and another £13,568 for external contractors. The second bid for £8.8m – £16,000 for officer’s time and £15,450 for external contractors – both bids failed. 

READ MORE: Coral Reef, helping homeless and more in Bracknell council spending plans

” Such sums are being lost by every Council in the country at a time when funds are so limited.  There must be better ways of funding these projects than having to compete with other Councils from the same pot, forever resulting in winners and losers.”

Ultimately, Cllr Temperton’s proposals were defeated as Conservatives argued they were late interventions and they ‘could not accept them.’

However, council leader Cllr Paul Bettison OBE (Conservative, Little Sandhurst and Wellington) agreed with her over the need to bid for funding from the government.

READ MORE: Shock election prediction see Conservatives lose MP seat and control of council

Cllr Bettison said: “One thing I would unequivocally agree with the leader of the opposition on is that bidding for funds, capital funding is deplorable.

“It’s expensive, it wastes public money, it’s a huge waste of public money and frankly it’s an insult to local authorities that we have to bid and enter into a beauty competition as to whether or not our capital projects can go forward, and indeed if Cllr Temperton would like to accompany me I’m happy to go and see the Secretary of State [for levelling up] and give him my opinions on it and she’s welcome to give in hers.”

The Conservative administration’s 2023/24 budget passed at a full council meeting on Wednesday, February 22.