Since the Liberal Democrats became the largest party on the District Council last year our priority has been to protect services whilst delivering value for money and looking at how we can work more efficiently and effectively for local residents.
Our budget agreed by the Council on Wednesday aims to balance the budget but required some painful decisions on raising money due to a projected shortfall in income. This followed an all party working group to look at the budget in detail and try to get all a consensus on the way forward – in the event Labour, the Greens and many independent councillors supported the budget. Even the Conservatives agreed parking charges needed to increase.
The Council faces key pressures such as increasing support for homeless and insecurely housed residents – with a 11% increase in homelessness and 40% increase in people who are victims of domestic violence asking MSDC for help. The Council is buying homes so it can provide more affordable and secure temporary housing in the district so local people can stay closer to their family and friends rather than having to rely on costly bed and breakfast accommodation often further away.
Many people value our parks and open spaces and so we are launching a 10-year programme of investment and improvement in them across the district this year with significant capital investment and a new grounds maintenance contract that is more flexible and responsible to our needs.
The reason we are doing this is because the Council is facing projected deficits of £12 million over the next four years. Council tax is due to increase by 3% but with high inflation and increased responsibilities placed on the Council by the government, with reduced funding the shortfall needs to be addressed. The Council is reviewing all expenditure areas for efficiency savings without reducing service levels.
However the Council has had to increase parking charges to help pay for this, the new charges are based on an independent review of parking in Mid Sussex where all parties agreed the new strategy in 2020 but the Conservatives delayed implementation. Noting also the charges are still cheaper than West Sussex County Council’s charges which voted to increased its parking charges earlier in February.
Why differential parking charges – many neighbouring councils do not employ a ‘one-size-fits-all pricing structure across all their car parks, they tailored charges to reflect the demand in each areas, the strategy devised in 2020 and developed by independent consultants proposed charges based on demand. Given the highest demand is in East Grinstead then the increase in charges are higher here, this also reflects the demand for investment to expand capacity in the town recognised by the Conservatives in their proposed amendment to the budget.
Are councillor allowances going up? There was no increase in the overall cost of allowances (the total cost reduced by £21,138) but the basic allowances increased by 9.6% which reflects changes in the structure and workload not just inflation. The average increase over the previous twelve years has been 1%. These changes were recommended by an independent body set up for this purpose who are currently recruiting for local residents to participate – see https://www.midsussex.gov.uk/…/independent-panel-to…/