AFTER hours of heated debate, dramatic last minute amendments and financial wrangling, the Conservative administration at Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) passed its budget for the year ahead.

On Wednesday a spending blueprint and a final budget of £407,600 million were passed after a full council vote at Shire Hall.

It means almost all services provided by the council will see overall slashes to their budgets, including Adult Services and Public Health.

However, an extra £9million will be spent on fixing the county’s crumbling roads, as well as additional money for mental health and adoption.

The authority is coming under increasing financial pressure after sustained slashes to its core funding from central government.

To make up part of the losses, the council has been forced to increase its share of council tax by the maximum amount of 3.99 per cent again.

This will see the precept for the average household hiked by 1.99 per cent, alongside another two per cent increase to help fund under-pressure adult social care.

This means in 2017/18 the average taxpayer will see their bills increase by £45.25 per year, or £3.77 per month.

This is the second year in a row where taxpayers in Gloucestershire will have to pay more to fund county council services – an increase of eight per cent since 2015/16.

GCC will also be forced to dip into its reserve pot and take millions to soften the blow of £11 million cuts from central government.

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Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Tory leader of the council, (pictured) said: “We’ve had to make some tough decisions this year. I’m satisfied that this budget does what local people told us they wanted - striking the balance between protecting the most vulnerable, as well as extra money for our roads.”

However, opposition Lib Dems councillors criticised the council for a “double whammy” of cuts and tax hikes, while Labour said the Conservatives had failed to tackle the county’s “growing social care crisis”.

Cllr Paul Hodgkinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: "The budget proposed by the Conservatives was a double whammy of tax hikes and cuts to services.

"They've had 12 years in charge and it's clear they've run out of ideas. They spent time and money on consulting on a budget which wasn't fit for purpose. It failed vulnerable people and failed to make investment into roads and pavements.

"The Lib Dems were able to pull the Budget back from the brink. We've won vital funds for vulnerable residents and local infrastructure.

"We've been campaigning for these things for years and I'm pleased they've finally listened. But the county council deserves an administration which puts the needs of vulnerable people first without being embarrassed into doing so.”

Leader of the Labour Group, Lesley Williams (Stonehouse) said: “Conservative and UKIP councillors should be ashamed, they were playing party politics with people’s lives.

“We have to get to grips with this crisis. Since 2013 the [adult services] budget has been cut from £157m to £136m this year. It’s a disgrace, and people have to understand that the Tories are not looking out for them.”

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Stroud News and Journal:

  • Breakdown of the budget

Around £11 million has been taken away from the budgets for providing services. This has however been party offset by GCC using some of its reserves to plug the gaps.

  • In 2017/18 some £136.8m will be spent on adult services, a cut of almost £4m on last year.
  • Ring-fenced money for Public Health money will be cut by over £1m to £24.9m.
  • The children and families budget, earmarked for schools, youth support, children’s centres and early years, will be cut by £3m to £89.3m.
  • The Communities & Infrastructure budget is the only area to see increases, with a rise of nearly £3m.
  • This money for highways, trading standards, libraries, fire service and waste will rise to £83.8 million.
  • As part of budget proposals, the council had been proposing to increase road spending next year by £6m.
  • Instead, the Conservatives are now proposing a £9m increase, moving extra funding from unused transitional reserves into road repairs.
  • The budget for business support and the technical side of running the council will be £72.7m.

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Cllr Vernon Smith, Tory cabinet member for highways, said: “£9m will be a massive boost to our plans to improve Gloucestershire roads. It will allow us to resurface more roads and pavements and fill more potholes than ever before.

“We’ve been working for years to beat the massive £120m backlog of road repairs that Labour and the Liberal Democrats left. This Conservative investment will deliver real and lasting improvement.”

With an extra £5m in grant money made available from the government during the last stages of the process, on top of additional £5.2m announced earlier this month, the Tory-led council was able to make a number of last-minute amendments to its budget.

These included a number of suggestions taken from the Liberal Democrats.

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One off payments from the reserves include:

  • Gloucestershire Road Safety Partnership to continue its work in light of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s withdrawal - £390,000.
  • Additional specialists to work alongside extra social workers to improve practice including a focus on mental health and adoption - £500,000.
  • Money to improve the process for traffic regulation orders to help keep our county moving - £100,000.
  • An additional £10,000 for every county councillor (from £20k to £30k) in the highways local scheme - £530,000.
  • Extra investment in highways – nearly £3 million.
  • An additional £500,000 for the county’s lengthsman scheme.

Meanwhile, a further £1 million from the Adults Social Grant has been allocated to fund:

  • Extra support for people with disabilities including tackling disability hate crime - £400,000.
  • ·Investment to improve adults’ physical and mental health whilst reducing social isolation and loneliness including social prescribing - £600,000.

The total money raised from the Adult Social Care Levy in 2017/18 was £4.99m.

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Previous changes to the draft budget were proposed earlier this month after feedback from local people. These include more early help for people struggling with mental health as well as extra support for those with dementia being discharged from hospital.

Tackling domestic abuse and preventing family breakdown will see an £800,000 investment, with another £320,000 support for vulnerable women.

The council will also spend more money on more foster careers, especially those who want to adopt, to provide safe and loving homes for children in care.

Gloucestershire currently charges £41 per year less than the average county council, including the levy, and £157 per year less than the highest charging.

Elections for GCC take place on May 4 this year.