27/1/2010 - Council's £12m fightback from floods and freeze delivers record-low council tax increase : Cumbria County Council

A draft budget for 2010/11 which helps pay for the repairs needed after the most damaging winter Cumbria has ever experienced is due to be discussed by Cumbria County Council's cabinet next week (February 2).

Despite the damage wrought to the county's highways infrastructure by the November floods and the freeze over Christmas and early January, the county council has managed to keep the proposed rise in its share of council tax to just 1.9% - the lowest ever level since council tax was introduced and an increase of just 6p a day on a Band D property.

An extra £12.2m has been set aside in the draft budget to help foot the bill for the damage to bridges, roads, footpaths and other county council-owned assets including the Port of Workington and Cockermouth library.

The £12.2m recovery money includes:

- An extra £3m to pay for road repairs needed after the recent freeze and the November floods.

- £3m set aside to pay the first £3m of the claim being made to the Department for Transport's Emergency Capital Highway Maintenance Fund for flood damage. Current estimates are that the total value of the eventual claim is likely to be at least £25m - similar to an insurance policy, the county council has to pay £3m 'excess'.

- £3.2m to fund any 'betterment and enhancement' elements of the claim being made to the Department for Transport. Under the DfT's Emergency Capital Highway Maintenance Fund, the Government will only replace like-for-like, so the county council will need to pay for any improvements to the highways network when rebuilding damaged bridges and roads.

- £3m to go back into the council's reserves to replace money which was spent in the immediate aftermath of the floods. The county council is making a claim under the Government's emergency recovery Bellwin fund, but, like the DfT scheme, must pay £1.2m 'excess'. This money now needs to be replaced and £1.8m needs to go back into the county council's insurance reserves for the same reason. This will take the county council's general reserves back up to £8.6m and insurance reserves to £3m.

In order to produce a balanced budget, the £12.2m has been redirected from other council revenue and capital sources.

Cllr Stewart Young, Cumbria County Council’s Deputy Leader and cabinet member responsible for resources, said:

"This has been one of the most challenging budgets the county council has ever had to produce at a time when life is still extremely difficult for many people in flood-affected areas. We have had to find an extra £12m to repair the county's infrastructure damaged by the floods and winter weather. We have managed to do that as well as hold down the increase in council tax to a record low."

Cumbria County Council first started consulting on its 2010/11 budget in November 2009. 'Essential or extras - council services under pressure' laid out proposals to cut out waste, bureaucracy and outdated practices to make sure that the county council could continue to deliver high quality services to the people who need them most. The overarching principle was to 'do more for less' and introduce new efficient, innovative ways of doing things which are designed to meet the needs of the public rather than sustain old structures and ways of working.

The initial wave of consultation helped produce a draft budget that was agreed by cabinet on December 8th. That draft budget was then subject to consultation with partner organisations, focus groups and the public. An online 'budget simulator' which allowed the public to make choices about where to invest and where to save money was completed by 770 members of the public.

As a result of the extensive consultation on the draft budget the following key amendments have been made in the new draft budget to be discussed by cabinet next week:

- The increase in the county council's share of council tax has dropped from 2% to 1.9%.

- The original draft budget proposed a 5% increase in the revenue from adult social care charging. This has now been reduced to a 2.5% increase.

- The county council is borrowing an extra £2.7m to invest in carbon reduction measures such as low-carbon streetlights. This will help avoid carbon footprint fines being introduced by Government. £270,000 has been allocated in the 2010/11 budget to pay back this capital investment in environmental improvements.

- An extra £47,000 has been allocated to support victims of domestic violence.

- An extra £50,000 a year will be made available for the next three years to the Lakes Alive programme. This will allow outdoor cultural events to be held and provide a vital boost to the local economy.