Bristol City Council debating the Budget
It's the last to be overseen by outgoing Labour mayor Marvin Rees whose role is being scrapped from May
Bristol City Council is setting its annual budget today (February 20), the last to be overseen by outgoing Labour mayor Marvin Rees whose role is being scrapped from May.
His administration’s spending plans include £24million of cutbacks, a 4.99 per cent council tax rise, £9million from Clean Air Zone charges to pay for subsidised buses and roadworks, increases in register office fees and less money for signage and wayfinding information.
Local authorities are required by law to set balanced budgets, but opposition groups can suggest changes and additional investment in some areas as long as the money is found from cuts elsewhere totalling the same amount.
These are called budget amendments. The Conservatives have tabled three sets of these to the full council meeting, while there are none from the Greens – a decision that has come under fire – or Knowle Community Party.
The Lib Dems have tabled one amendment. Here is what they would do with your council taxpayer money.
A £100,000 “branch library recovery fund” would be created.
It follows the temporary closure of every library in the city except the Central one at some point since November because of a recruitment freeze on casuals.
While the process is now underway to hire more staff, the money would be used first to increase the number of branches with extended access and then potentially cover the cost of agency workers and pay for more books and replacement furniture.
It would increase the service’s net budget of £4.9million for one year while the new employees are brought in.
The group also wants to provide an extra £350,000 in 2024/25 for the council’s £10.2million transport levy to the West of England Combined Authority, which funds loss-making but socially vital ‘supported’ buses.
A council officer assessment said the two suggestions would benefit disabled and older people and those in deprived areas.
The Lib Dems would pay for their plans with cash from two sets of council reserves, but officers are more critical about the likely impacts of this.
The party would take £250,000 from the climate and ecological reserve, expected to be £1.9million for 2024/25, which funds the authority’s action plans to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies, a programme that has secured £15million in external funding to date.
An officer wrote in a report to full council: “Impacts on employment would need to be subject to their own review and could have a particular impact on equalities groups depending on the staff make-up of the team.
“The direct impact on equalities groups by the stopping of projects, slower delivery of council action and reduction of the council’s ability to secure external funding and investment would be dependent on which communities the projects serve.
“If they particularly serve equalities groups then this could have an impact on those with protected characteristics.”
The other £200,000 to pay for libraries and subsidised bus routes would come from the communities resilience reserve, which supports the pandemic recovery of the voluntary and community sector (VCSE) and is expected to be £550,000 for the next financial year.
But an officer said this could “reduce the capacity of the council to support the VCSE recovery in the city”.
They added: “Reducing the capacity of the communities resilience fund is likely to have an equalities impact.
“The fund is used for community safety projects with oversight from the community development team who conduct wide-ranging equalities work including with under-represented groups in areas of high deprivation.”
Lib Dem group leader Cllr Jos Clark, who tabled the motion, said: “This year’s budget is very tight, but we still felt it was right to support the most vulnerable in our communities.
“We have listened to our residents who tell us that they value their local library and are really upset that they can not rely on it to be open on the days it is supposed to be open.
“We want our libraries to thrive and not be closed by stealth.
“We have whole communities who have no access to a local bus service and we have tried previously to give local residents access to local amenities by bus, so we want to help support their access to a local bus service.
“We acknowledge that the budget is very tight but also recognise that the Labour administration has wasted millions of local residents’ money on vanity projects such as Bristol Energy, the arena and of course an underground.”