North Yorkshire Council chiefs are set to face criticism over cuts to a grants scheme and queries over claimed savings from school transport changes at a key meeting today.
Councillors from all parties will gather at County Hall in Northallerton on Friday with the task of approving the annual budget and the final strategy for the next three years.
The council is set to confirm a 4.99 per cent increase in council tax which bosses say would still leave a £5m shortfall to be funded from reserves.
The tax increase will mean a household living in an average Band D property paying an extra £92.18 a year.
The authority is blaming the loss of the £14.3m rural services delivery grant, which was removed by the government in November, as well as an increase in employer national insurance contributions for exacerbating financial challenges caused by an increase in demand for services.
Liberal Democrat councillors are expected to table an amendment at the meeting over the council’s attempts to reduce the £50m home-to-school transport budget by providing buses to and from a child’s nearest school rather than using a catchment system.
Council officers have acknowledged the new system may require additional bus routes to be put on, with some rural communities now being served by several ‘nearest’ schools depending on the location of families, when previously all children would go to the same catchment school.
Liberal group leader Bryn Griffiths, who represents Stokesley, said:
“It just feels wrong. They’re putting on extra transport on additional routes and travelling out of county, and they’re saying they’re going to save money — it sounds pie in the sky.”
Green councillors are also expected to question the savings.
Green Party group leader, Councillor Kevin Foster, who represents Hipswell and Colburn, has suggested the council could find itself being subjected to a judicial review of its own, after beginning legal action against the government over the end of the rural services delivery grant.
He said:
“The Greens think that the savings are now there in this policy,
“I do wonder if a judicial review would be appropriate as the leader of the council seems to think this is the way forward if it believes the judgement is not correct.”
The plan to cut the £900,000 a year locality fund in half is also expected to draw criticism at the meeting.
Each councillor is given £10,000 a year from the fund to allocate to good causes and projects in their division
However, the council is looking to reduce this to £5,000 from 2025/26.
Cllr Foster said:
“The cut restricts councillors’ ability to support their residents with things like food banks, schools with SEND projects, and youth and village hall projects to name but a few.”
The 2025/26 budget will be the first to include a new 100 per cent premium for council tax bills on second homes, which the council hopes will raise up to £11m.
It will also include a £7m investment in Harrogate Convention Centre, as well as a £60m investment in five new care and support hubs for people suffering from dementia.
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