13 February 2020
Hard work and sound financial management is paying off for South Hams District Council. This year, the Council unanimously voted for a budget which put money aside for community homes, replacing play park equipment, the climate change and biodiversity emergency and for the 6th year running coastal erosion.
This is the first time in many years that all of the Councillors have voted to accept the Council’s annual budget in its entirety.
For several years now, conversations at South Hams District Council have been all about closing budget gaps and finding savings.
With a reduction in funding from Central Government of £4 million per year since 2010, the Council has had to change dramatically. This has included a reduction in staff of more than 30%. The Council no longer receives any Government Grant (Revenue Support Grant) to fund its services and the Council has to be self-sufficient.
During this time, South Hams District Council has continued to lobby Central Government to get them to recognise how difficult and more costly it is to provide services over a large rural area.
Despite these challenges, the Council has been able to close a predicted budget gap this year of £500,000 and find funds to invest in district wide issues such as housing and climate change.
Cllr Judy Pearce Leader of South Hams District Council said: “I am delighted that we can turn our attention to some very exciting projects in this financial year.
“In spite of severe budget pressures, we are still managing to make a significant investment in community housing projects. That means across 4 schemes we will be creating 55 new homes in the South Hams.
“Our play park replacement scheme will see new equipment in parks in Ivybridge, Kingsbridge, Woolwell and Salcombe.
“As we aim to make the Council carbon neutral by 2030 and are working with our partners on a Devon wide plan, we have also managed to find £400,000 to help us tackle climate change and biodiversity loss.
“This year £150,000 had to be allocated to upgrading the Council’s IT systems. I am pleased to say that we shall be installing a great new solution that provides excellent value for money and improve customer interaction with us.
“We have also identified two key jobs that we believe would add significant benefit to the wellbeing and economic health of the District, an Economy Officer and a Climate Change Officer.
“When you receive your council tax bill this year, please also remember that South Hams District Council, only keeps 9 pence in every pound of the Council Tax we collect.
“This is because the bill has been sent out on behalf of all of the other bodies such as your Town or Parish Council, the County Council, the Police and the fire service. You can find specific information about this on your bill.”
In this year’s budget, South Hams has also put £300,000 aside for projects and issues relating to coastal erosion and £1.1 million for Disabled Facilities Grants, to enable less able residents to live independently within their own home.
All of this has been made possible thanks to careful financial management, the shared service with West Devon Borough Council, whereby the Councils share the cost of a single workforce, and sound investment.
For example significant savings have been made through the leisure contract with Fusion, which now runs all of the Council-owned leisure centres in South Hams and West Devon.
This has been a huge success for South Hams, which can now boast much improved leisure facilities across the District, and a new swimming pool in Ivybridge with a retractable roof.
Further savings were made through the joint waste and recycling contract with West Devon Borough Council and FCC Environmental. Improvements to the service and aligning it with the rest of Devon, will allow the Council to make even more savings this financial year.
Residents will soon be receiving details of their new improved waste and recycling service, aimed at increasing the amount of materials the District recycles. In the new service, which will be operational in September, glass and plastics will be collected from the kerbside.
In addition to all of this, a recent review and restructure of the senior staff at the Council has also seen an additional saving of just under £100,000 per year, from the cost of senior management pay.
Cllr Judy Pearce added: “Again this year we are going to increase Council Tax by £5 per year or 42 pence per month per household. This small increase will make a big difference to our ability to provide essential services and projects such as community housing schemes in several of our villages.
“If you compare our annual spend of £9.4 million it is about the same amount of money that the average secondary school has to spend each year. Sound resource management means we manage to do a lot with the money we have.”
These services include: Planning, environmental health, affordable housing, homelessness, waste and recycling, car parks, beaches, stray dogs, street naming and numbering, pest control, licencing, dog fouling, fly tipping, council tax, benefits, play parks, litter bins, street cleaning, tree preservations, bottle banks, elections, grass verges, heritage preservation, building maintenance, disabled facilities grants, event licencing, markets, community safety, Salcombe Harbour, Dartmouth Lower Ferry, Environmental Health (Private Sector Housing).
Services that South Hams District Council is not responsible for include: Potholes, schools, social care, recycling centres, roads, off street parking, traffic lights and street lamps.
See visual here; https://www.southhams.gov.uk/article/4400/What-we-do
Read all about the budget here: https://mg.swdevon.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=151&MId=1335&Ver=4
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