Member Article

Council Tax freezes are now a thing of the past, says Hartlepool Council Leader

Leader of Hartlepool Council, Councillor Christopher Akers-Belcher, has said that ‘Council Tax freezes are now a thing of the past’ due to sustained government cuts.

Setting the town’s budget for the forthcoming year, Councillors approved a Council Tax increase of 3.9% for 2016/17 at a council meeting on 18 February, reportedly integral to ensure the future protection of Hartlepool jobs and regeneration plans.

A report from last night’s meeting showed that by 2019/20, Hartlepool Council will have seen its Government funding cut by two-thirds (£38m) from 2011/12 when the austerity cuts were first introduced.

The tax will result in the large majority of households (72% in Bands A and B) facing an increase of 83p per week. For 96% of households receiving Local Council Tax Support, the increase will be no more than 10p per week.

The financial report outlined that Hartlepool will lose almost £4.5m in Government grant for 2016/17 – a reduction of 17.9%.

This is on top of the £3.8m the authority will lose in Business Rates from April after Hartlepool Power Station appealed against the amount of Business Rates it should pay.

Hartlepool Council has frozen Council Tax for the last five years – the only Tees Valley council to do so – but the report says that a change in Government policy means that the era of Council Tax freezes are now over.

For the 2016/17 financial year, the Government’s settlement announcement assumes that local councils will increase the level of Council Tax by 3.9% per annum – which includes the Government’s new 2% Social Care Levy.

This will enable the Council to raise £1.3m with the balance of the Government funding cuts being met from savings andthe use of one-off resources.

Councillor Christopher Akers-Belcher, the Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, said: “When you add together the cut in Government grant and the loss of Business Rates, overall we are facing a cut in resources of over £8m for 2016/17.

“Inevitably, this has presented us with massive challenges in formulating a budget and we have been left with no alternative but to implement an increase of 3.9% from April.

“If we had not gone along with the rise it would have seriously jeopardised our ability to protect the most vulnerable residents of our town – particularly the frail and the elderly – and this is not a situation we were prepared to accept.

“As a Council we have been able to freeze Council tax for the last five years but even the Government acknowledges now that Council Tax freezes are now a thing of the past.

“The budget we have agreed is prudent and enables us to protect frontline services and ensure that there are no compulsory redundancies – this is a significant achievement when you consider the cuts in services some of our neighbouring authorities are facing.

“The budget we have set also enables us to allocate resources to ensure that we can continue in our efforts to regenerate the town, create jobs and secure future prosperity.

“There’s no doubt that the recent grant settlement was savage and extremely harsh on the people of Hartlepool, but we’ll continue to remain positive and work tirelessly for the betterment of the town and local people.”