Newbury Town Council Budget Approved for Next Year

Plans to spend over £2 million on services and projects for the people of Newbury.

Newbury Town Council approved a total budget spend of over £2 million, comprising £1.04 million on revenue projects and a further £1.13 on capital projects.

Cllr Adrian Edwards, Leader of the Council, presented the budget. He said that the Council remains in a healthy financial position and this budget “ … continues to exercise careful financial management, while at the same time meeting the serious challenges we face in dealing with current Local Government finances.”

Cllr Edwards outlined the following highlights from the Budget:

• £12,000 to continue to support the Christmas Lights events provided by Newbury BID for next Christmas
• Increased grant allocations from £10,000 to £15,000, and a further allocation of £10,000 for grants and support for youth work, making an overall total of £25,000
• Increasing the West Berkshire Citizens’ Advice Bureau grant to £20,000
• £12,000 provision towards CCTV in the Town Centre
• £5,200 for redecorating the Council Chamber and £6,000 towards a new fund for repointing the brick and stonework of the Town Hall.
• The successful Victoria Park Family Day is to become an annual event and there is provision for £2,125 to support this.
• The Council has a new grounds maintenance contract in place from 8 January 2018. This is a joint contract with West Berkshire District Council which is expected to provide increased efficiencies with improved service, arising from economies of scale and collaborating with our partners in West Berkshire District Council.
• A further contribution of £31,275 towards the Newbury Library Service, payable in quarterly instalments, pending satisfactory progress on achieving agreed actions for the review of the service.
• The draft budget includes an ambitious Capital programme to fund the Victoria Park Café and changing rooms. It also provides for the Shaw Cemetery disabled toilet, the Newtown Road Cemetery Chapel window, the St. John’s Memorial Gardens perimeter wall and expenditure on Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) projects to the value of £75,000.

Cllr Adrian Edwards added, “I am very pleased that we are able to achieve all of this without further financial burden on the Council Tax payers of Newbury; in fact, the average annual bill to meet our precept will drop by 4 pence, from £79.16 to £79.12.”