Eye-watering council tax rise will add £97 onto the average Kirklees Council bill

The biggest council tax hike in a decade has been proposed by Kirklees Council alongside millions more in cuts and more than 300 job losses.

The ruling Labour group has agreed it wants a 6% increase in 2018/19 – roughly £8 a month more for a Band D property.

The shock rise comes on the back of a record 5% increase this year and it back-tracks on last year’s promise to limit the increase to 10% over the two year period.

It is only possible after the Government quietly unveiled new powers in the days just before Christmas for councils to raise council tax to a maximum of 5.99% which is the figure Kirklees is imposing.

Kirklees appears to be the first council to declare its intention to take the option up.

The 6% council tax rise has been revealed as the Labour group unveils its budget for the next two years, which also features millions in investments, including a £13m new sports centre and £45m of spending on town centres.

Meanwhile, the total savings requirements are £16m in 2018-19 and £29m in 2019-20.

Councillors from rival groups will now spend three weeks negotiating the budget with Labour needing some opposition support to vote its proposals through.

The extra 1% generates an additional £1.6m in revenue for council coffers.

Just as last year, 3% of the 6% hike goes directly towards the stunning £89m cost per year for adult social care – almost a third of the whole budget.

Kirklees Council’s income from central government has reduced by an incredible 60% in recent years with almost £200m in cuts identified and a total of 1,000 jobs lost.

Deputy Leader of Kirklees Council Clr Shabir Pandor, who is leading budget negotiations this year, claimed all West Yorkshire councils would be aiming for the same.

He said: “In the scheme of things, 1% is bugger all, as over the last few years we’ve had our budgets cut by £197m.

“The extra 1% the government has allowed us to take – 3% in total – is still well within inflation.

“So on the back of £197m lost, bringing in £1.6m is still a cut.

“At the end of the day we need to bring whatever little bit we can to save services for communities.

“But it’s not going to solve all our problems.”

Clr Pandor said he thought the members of the public would accept the rise as half of it was for vital adult social care.

He added: “There’s still a massive gap in funding and children’s social care funding.

“It’s a choice of how much do we keep cutting? You can’t keep cutting and cutting.

“We want to make sure our essential services keep going, cleaning our streets and roads, things that communities are very passionate about.

“Once we can explain that I think they’ll understand.“

Asked if the extra 1% was worth the political risk he commented: “I think people out there understand the pressure we’re under.

“As long as we can demonstrate that we’re going to re-invest in our communities and in our town centres, they will understand.

“We’re going to invest £13m in a new sports centre – that’s massive.

“We’ve got £45m going into our town centres – Dewsbury, Batley and Huddersfield – we’re going to put something back in so people can enjoy their local communities.

“What we’re trying to do this year is not just more cuts, we’re actually investing back into the communities.

“It’s not all doom and gloom.”

Clr Pandor said his “investment” budget would see the start of the end to endless “doom and gloom”.

He added: “You’ll see some improvement in your street scene and your environment because that’s the stuff that’s really suffered.

“We’ve put money into adult social care and children’s services – and quite rightly so – but we can’t keep on taking the money away from people who don’t use those services.

“We need to make sure our environment is still attractive.

“We don’t want to have people thinking everything is going to rack and ruin.

“If we can do things to get things in town centres to get that vibrancy, that footfall, that economic regeneration back, we will do that.”

One of the council’s plans is to increase charges for parking and bring in new bus lane enforcement which could generate more income in fines.

Defending the plan, he added: “We’ve not increased parking charges since 2007 – a modest increase won’t have a massive impact on people.

“If bus lanes are flowing properly it’s better for business, people getting to work quicker; it’s better for the environment and it’s better for air quality, which is a massive issue.”

The size of the council is set to reduce to its smallest ever, down to fewer than 5,000 staff.

Council bosses are looking to shed a further 300 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) roles, over the next two years.

It will lose most through voluntary redundancies and unfilled vacancies.

“The government is still taking away our core grant,” Clr Pandor added. “Their plan is to take that down to zero.

“The government should be propping us up instead of starving us of vital cash.

“They said they were going to deal with the adult social care problem but instead they’ve kicked it into the long grass.

“So until they address the funding gap in adult social care, we’re going to be struggling.

“If you ask me the government should be funding that.

“There’s a crisis in the NHS and social care. Unless they address that, the problem is going to get bigger and bigger.

“We’re increasing council tax 3% in real terms, but that’s still below inflation.

“A few years ago we did freeze our council tax for two years in a row.”

Summing up the Labour group’s change of tack for 2018/19, Clr Pandor said: “This budget is around investment.

“This is the first time round we’ve done it like this – putting money back in – for some time.

“Unless you start putting money back into communities what hope is there for future generations?

“People realise we’ve been through a hard patch.

“We’re not out of it, we’ve still got massive cuts. We’ve only got a two year budget because we don’t know what the future is.

“You’ve got so many big questions – adult social care, children’s services, Brexit – loads of stuff.

“But at the same time we need to get our own narrative right.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I feel being positive is very important.”