MEMBERS of Cheshire East Council have voted to approve the budget for 2018-19.

It means that council tax will go up by 5.99 per cent across the borough – with the bill for band D properties rising from £1,324.92 to £1,404.28, or £1.53 extra a week.

The move comes after the Government announced it would allow councils to increase tax by up to six per cent, and three per cent of that will go towards social care.

CEC claims the budget will help it balance the books ahead of reductions of central government grants, inflationary costs and rising demand totalling more than £70 million over the next three years.

Speaking before councillors debated it, leader Cllr Rachel Bailey told members that the budget balances the books ‘with savings that are tough, but where we invest for the future’.

She said: “We have known for a long time that our community wants local government to be more accountable – quite rightly. This council relies heavily on council tax.

“When we consider our budget, it will be crystal clear how challenging that is for us – making appropriate savings while delivering those statutory services to a high standard.”

Cllr Paul Bates, cabinet member for finance and communication, added that the council is ‘caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place’ of increasing costs and cuts in Government funding.

Some unpopular policies have been amended or scrapped in the final budget following initial consultation.

Libraries in Alderley Edge, Disley and Poynton will not be closed down as first proposed, while an additional £5 million was put towards highways, and a proposal to charge for parking at leisure centres in Crewe and Nantwich was overturned.

An amendment on the day for further highways funding from Cllr Hilda Gaddum, Conservative member for Sutton, was approved – meaning an additional £2 million in capital funding and £150,000 of revenue.

But Labour had an amendment for additional funding for voluntary services rejected.

Cllr Sam Corcoran, leader of CEC’s Labour group, hit out at the proposed cuts of £1.1 million to CEC’s care force in the budget.

“We have experts that provide a great service,” he said.

“The last thing you should do is break up that group and damage morale with job insecurity.”

He added that members of CEC had given the cabinet the right to ‘extensively rewrite the budget’ in the new constitution, which does not require transfers of cash between £1 million and £5 million to be discussed by full council.

Cllr Barry Burkhill, independent group leader, added that there was ‘nothing to put a smile on the faces of most of our residents’, while Cllr Rod Fletcher, CEC’s Liberal Democrat leader, suggested the budget was not robust and that the council was ‘making the same mistakes as last year’.

“In desperation Conservatives show savings from reviews that have yet to take place,” he said.

“In the 2017-18 budget a £1.5 million was shown to be saved from the 2018-19 budget by cutting subsidised bus services. After review the savings are more than £400,000 less.”

The budget forms part of CEC’s medium-term financial strategy for 2018 to 2021, and the council aims to become financially self-sufficient by 2020.

The revenue budget has a net revenue spend of £268.8 million, and total capital investment of £326.1 million is identified over the next three years.

A total of £197 million is estimated to be spent over the next three years on maintaining and improving the borough’s highways network.

Meanwhile, £2 million has been earmarked from the new homes bonus scheme to be used in communities.

Following the budget announcement Jan Willis, CEC interim executive director of corporate services, said: “These financial reports and budget outline how the council has continued to build on the solid achievements of recent years and continues to maintain robust financial health.

“The year ahead presents a number of challenges for all UK local authorities, as increasing demand in care services for children and adults, plus other pressures, are compounded by falls in government funding – a funding reduction totalling £14.8 million this year for CEC and set to fall by a further £11.9 million in 2018-19.

“In east Cheshire, the number of residents receiving care and support from adult social care is increasing by four per cent a year and the number of children in social care placements has increased by 17 per cent in the last year, in line with other councils.

“The council’s net expenditure on adult social care services was almost £100 million in 2016-17, which is three times the spending on any other service area. This council will continue to prioritise services for vulnerable people, despite the financial challenges. However, this means other services will need to deliver savings.”