More ‘difficult choices’ could be on their way for Bracknell Forest Council, the councillor in charge of spending has said. It came as plans to raise council tax, dim streetlights and cut back on home library spending were approved.

Councillors from all parties agreed unanimously to spending plans for the coming year at a meeting on Wednesday, February 21.

The budget, spanning April 2024-April 2025, includes a maximum council tax increase, dimming streetlights by 10 per cent and changes to the future of the home library service.

Councillor Kathryn Neil, in charge of finance, said it was a ‘hard budget’ for the Labour Party in its first year in charge of the council – facing rising costs and tighter funding. She said years of previous spending cuts had left the council having to look for savings in ‘uncomfortable’ places.

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She said: “The low hanging fruit was picked years ago. So we have had to look for what is left in places that feel uncomfortable.”

Councillor Neil said the council would push for the government to give more money to local authorities – as councils across the country are struggling.

She said: “Something has to give. Local authorities cannot continue to deliver all the services that our residents need and expect with less money from central government than we had 15 years ago.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Michael Forster also pinned the blame for councils’ woes on central government.

He said: “Much of the solution to these difficulties faced by this council and many other councils lies with the central government. They are letting this council down and our residents badly.”

Conservative councillor Robert McLean agreed that the government’s funding settlement for councils ‘isn’t enough’. But he said he’d been a councillor during Labour, Conservative and coalition governments, and none had delivered ‘bountiful times’ for councils.

He warned that councils’ money troubles would continue even if Conservatives were voted out of government in a general election expected this year.

He said: “Any of you who are wishing for a change in our national government, I put you on notice now that any expectations that you might have for a financial windfall for Bracknell Forest – the best I can say is that I hope that you are good at managing disappointment.”

Councillor Neil said she hoped the council would be on track to make funding and spending match up without dipping into savings by 2027.

But she said extra pressures on councils – such as increased costs, or changes to funding, are ‘impossible to predict.’ She said this could mean the council could have to ‘find more savings and face more difficult choices to balance the budget every year.’