Longer park and ride hours in Bath. Council tax may rise to fund these plans.
The budget details will be shared on February 13th. It shows a balanced budget of £151.7 million for 2025/26. New infrastructure projects are planned for the next five years. Over £70 million will be spent on building houses and improving transport and travel routes.
Mark Elliott spoke about a tough budget process. He is pleased the budget balances despite rising costs, especially for adult and children’s services. They will add over £5 million for adult care packages. They also plan to improve school transport, spending £350k on drivers and vehicles, and aim to improve youth support, spending £50k.
Keeping streets clean and green is important. The council will invest in rapid response teams and needs better customer service technology to help residents contact services easily. Building more homes is also important to the council, with £73.4 million going to Aequus for buying land to deliver new homes.
Children’s services face rising costs too, including special needs and transport. The council wants to meet the needs of vulnerable kids. Planned increases include £125k for park and ride hours, £281k to clean up weeds and litter, and £251k for customer service systems. School Streets will increase by £87k in 2025-26, and subsidized bus services will get an extra £50k.
Council tax might increase by 2.99% next year, about £51.92 more for a Band D property. Adult social care could rise by 2% as well, an extra £34.72 for a Band D property. The total Band D council tax could be £1,823.06, a £86.64 increase overall.
The council thinks they give good value for money. Their tax increases are less than many other councils, and their tax is low compared to other areas. Even with the rise, their tax will be among the lowest and far below the South West average.
The council plans climate investments too. They will spend £4 million to remove gas heating from council owned buildings and £9.961 million for greener fleet vehicles. The cabinet will discuss the budget on February 13th. The full council reviews it on February 25th. You can watch meetings on their YouTube channel.
