Councillor Ken Hind (Longridge Dilworth) Council Leader in presenting the budget and recommeding only the second council tax increase in the Ribble Valley in 9 years  commented, “'This has been a challenging year for the Council Budget Working  Our aim was to produce a balanced budget. We had a  budget gap of £818,000 caused by  £432,000  cut by Lancashire County Council caused by ending in cost sharing or recycling credits from the 1st April 2018 from LCC, originally made by the then  Labour Administration  in 2015.”

“Secondly increases in costs, changes in levels of revenue support and increases in staff wages which are yet to be approved by the Unions of 2.7 % in the first year as part of a 2 year deal.”

“The final budget stands £4,933,000 with a council tax requirement of £3,886.285 as we increased the amounts we took from balances, business rates and the New Homes Bonus.”

“In reaching these conclusions the Council faced a number of challenging options including abandoning the weekly refuse collection and collecting 3 weekly or charging for green waste and abandoning the universal green waste collection. We decided to reject green waste charges, the only local authority in Lancashire to do so (although there are disputes in South Ribble over it) and retain the 4 stream recycling refuse collection on a weekly basis. This is because we see recycling as vitally important and will be looking at ways to improve rates in the future.” 

“All this has been achieved without making one employee redundant or cutting any services and retaining a £6.6 million capital programme over the next  5 years.”

“It means for the Band D tax payer RVBC share of the council tax is only 9% of the total £150.69 a year or an extra 10p a week.”

“RVBC levies the lowest council tax in Lancashire of both Boroughs and Districts, half as much as Preston. The impact of this is someone living in Whittingham in a Band D house, immediately adjacent to Longridge, will pay £301.51 to Labour controlled City of Preston. For the same service a Longridge resident living in an identical house will pay £150.69 to Conservative controlled Ribble Valley. This is as result of prudent financial management over a number of years.”

“Comparisons with our Labour controlled neighbour authorities reveal Chorley at £185.96, Hyndburn £240.52, Pendle at £255.16 and Burnley £288.04”

“For the future we cannot be complacent as there are a number of scenarios which could affect our position: the fair funding review of government funding of local government to which RVBC are in the process of answering the consultation, supporting the District Councils Network and SPARSE positions, changes in the new homes bonus, alteration in the rules of business rates pools and changing plans for 75% business rate retention by local authorities planned for  2020-21. We have to continue to be cautious in our spending and drive the local economy to create more jobs, new businesses and expand existing ones to increase our business rate income thereby securing the future of services for our residents.”