North Warwickshire Borough Council approved its Budget for the 2025/26 year.
At a Full Council Meeting on Wednesday 19th February 2025, North Warwickshire Borough Council approved its budget for the 2025/26 year which aims to deliver a balanced budget against a backdrop of uncertainty regarding Council reorganisation and funding, whilst investing further in its review of leisure services, even more street cleaning, planning enforcement and facilities and events in the Borough’s towns and villages.
A Council consultation last year found that the vast majority of North Warwickshire Borough residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live (88%), substantially higher than the national average. Over three-quarters (76%) of residents’ expressed satisfaction with the way North Warwickshire Borough Council runs things, which is 20 percentage points above the national average.
At the meeting, the Council committed a further £5m to the project to improve leisure facilities in Atherstone and Polesworth as well as £200,000 for new changing facilities in Mancetter. This is in addition to the £100,000 pump track that is nearing completion in Dordon, the second to be built in the Borough, and the ongoing work to upgrade the play areas managed by the Council.
Communities in every Ward in the Borough will again be able to benefit with funding for projects to improve life for residents as part of a £85,000 top up to the Community Grants scheme. And this year a further £10,000 has been allocated for small grants to encourage communities to come together to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The cleanliness and appearance of North Warwickshire’s towns and villages will benefit from a further £125,000 for street cleaning and there will be a repeat of the highly successful fund of £100,000 to support the appearance of ‘High Street’ shops in our main retail areas and surrounding villages.
The Council has also allocated £15,000 for projects to improve residents’ safety and has budgeted for a further Planning Enforcement Officer to boost the work the Council does to enforce planning and other environmental offences such as fly tipping.
At the meeting Councillors agreed to increase Council Tax for all households’ equivalent to an increase of 2.99%, which is necessary given that the Government’s funding for the Council assumes this level of increase.
For a Band D Council Tax this is an increase of £7.05 per year for NWBC services, which is approximately 14p a week.
|
Where your Council tax goes: |
% |
Total per year £ |
|
North Warwickshire Borough Council |
9.98 |
242.75 |
|
Warwickshire County Council (WCC) |
74.96 |
1,822.95 |
|
Warwickshire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner |
12.49 |
303.71 |
|
Various Parish Councils |
2.57 |
62.37 on average |
Leader of the Council, Cllr David Wright said, “The Council continues to face increasing uncertainty as the Government has announced a disruptive and rushed review of Councils which could see all services for our area delivered by one mega Council with less links to North Warwickshire. In addition funding for Councils is set to be overhauled and its likely that areas like North Warwickshire will end up with less money to support its residents and business.
Despite this, the Council continues to work very hard to manage its budget responsibly which gives us the opportunity to target investment in the areas that residents have said they value the most – leisure and recreation services, dealing with planning and environmental crimes, cleaner streets and safer communities.
I am also delighted that we have been able to top up the Councillor grant scheme to support groups and facilities in each area of the Borough as well as another £100,000 to support our High Streets. As an Army veteran, I am also delighted that we will be able to offer small grants to allow communities to come together to commemorate the 80th anniversary of end of the Second World War.”