North Tyneside Council will continue to drive forward with its ambitions and build a prosperous new future for local people, despite the financial challenges facing local government - that's the message from North Tyneside's Elected Mayor.
The council's financial plans for 2019/2020 were agreed at a full council meeting on Thursday.
The local authority continues to operate in a very difficult financial climate and is dealing with multiple spending pressures as a result of Government cuts, increased costs, and growing demand for services - particularly in adult and children’s social care.
Further uncertainty comes from the Government’s ‘fair funding review’ and proposed move to 75% business rates retention, as there is no indication how central Government proposes to fund local government beyond 2020/21.
As a result, the council has agreed new plans to save a further £3.3m in 2019/2020 and nearly £27.2m over the next four years.
In order to ensure a balanced budget, the council has also confirmed an increase in the council’s part of the council tax by 2.99 per cent, in line with government recommendations, which equates to an annual rise of £30.45 for a Band A property and £45.68 for a Band D.
Despite these challenges, the authority is committed to improving services and outcomes for local people and delivering on its ambitions for North Tyneside.
Unlike many other councils across the UK, North Tyneside has been able to protect its libraries, community centres and leisure centres and will continue to invest in the environment and local business through the careful management of resources.
North Tyneside’s Elected Mayor, Norma Redfearn CBE, said: “These are extremely challenging times for local government and, like many local authorities across the country, we continue to face swingeing cuts from central government, as well as the added pressure of rising costs and demand for our services.
“In spite of this relentless financial pressure, we know there are many reasons to be positive about our future in North Tyneside and many success stories on which we can build.
“A number of key road improvement schemes have already been completed around the borough and we look forward to Highways England’s A19/A1058 (Silverlink) project being finished soon.
“We continue to welcome 5.7m visitors to the borough every year, supporting nearly 4,000 jobs, and North Tyneside is home to over 5,000 businesses with 80,000 of our residents in work.
“Our children’s and adults’ services department has been praised by inspectors, putting us in the top bracket of councils nationally and resulting in the Government asking us to help other local authorities which will generate income to help offset the cuts required.
“As we look ahead to the next 12 months, we have agreed a budget that maximises what limited resources we have to invest in our remaining ambitions for the borough and ensure it continues to grow, while protecting and delivering essential services and our commitments in the ‘Our North Tyneside Plan’.”
The budget also includes environmental measures such as extending a successful trial of a mobile CCTV van and wardens to tackle environmental offences, an additional team to target hot spots for littering and fly tipping and 130 larger bins for litter and dog waste at key locations.
In addition, all council car parks will be free after 6pm to support the evening economy and there will be a trial of free parking at Brierdene in Whitley Bay to improve access to the revived coastline attractions and encourage visitors.
Ambitious plans to help bring jobs, housing, tourism and investment to North Tyneside will also continue, as will the affordable housing programme which aims to create 3,000 new homes for people who can't afford to rent or buy on the open market.
Face-to-face consultations with groups of residents have been taking place since November 2018 to ask their views on the budget proposals and ensure that the 2019/2020 budget delivers the best outcomes for the borough.
The Elected Mayor added: “As a council that prides itself on listening to local people, we have engaged thoroughly with residents, community groups and businesses throughout the budget process to establish what’s important to them and to set a fair and balanced budget.
“They know there are no easy decisions in the current climate, but they can also see that we have kept libraries and leisure centres open and we continue to invest in our environment and businesses through careful management of our resources.”
“I would like to thank everyone who took the time to have their say on our proposals."