A “challenging” and “transitional” budget which has protected front line services was agreed last night by Bromsgrove District Council.

Members agreed a £5 increase to the local authority’s section of the Council Tax bill which will see a Band D property paying £238 a year for District services.

These include waste and recycling collections, parks, play areas and events, processing of planning applications and car parks, which haven’t seen an increase in charges since 2011 and have just seen investment to install online payment facilities across the District.

Among the difficult decisions was not supporting the New Homes Bonus Community Grants Scheme this year as the funding we would have received from Government is much reduced and needed to support the financial position.

Cllr Geoff Denaro who last night presented the “budget put together despite many uncertainties”, said: “This is a transitional budget in that we are emerging from a pandemic which not only had a massive impact on our communities, but the way this Council served them with a lot of our back-office staff working from home and who continue to do so with the option of hot-desking.

“Once again we are forward-thinking and looking to build on the opportunities of the last two years and we are investing in our digital strategy to enable us to continue to work as a hybrid authority.

“The £5 increase works out at less than 50p a month and we have continued to protect and provide value for money in the services which residents have told us are important to them.”

Cllr Denaro also told the Chamber that the £397k left in Covid fund reserves was set to be used up and that car parking charges were still among the lowest in the County despite a projected revenue loss of more than £200k for 22/23.

Council Leader Karen May said: “While this has been a challenging budget we haven’t cut any frontline services of which I am very proud.

“We did leave 2021 on a high with the £14.5m levelling up fund investment which is earmarked for specific projects at two sites and also sees this Council putting £1.6m towards it.

“Creating a Better Bromsgrove for everyone is still our main priority and we continue to freeze our car parking charges in a bid to attract shoppers to our centres, supporting our independent traders who were hit by the lockdowns of the last two years.

“While we welcomed the alternative budgets put together by colleagues in the Chamber, I believe ours is realistic and is a balance of tough decisions and investment in areas which will benefit our residents.”