Cornwall Council agree budget with maximum council tax increase
The budget includes savings totalling £59m this year
Cornwall Council members have agreed a budget which will see a maximum council tax increase of just under 5%.
Councillors from a range of political groups criticised the Labour Government for removing the rurality factor from its local government funding, which the council’s Liberal Democrat / Independent cabinet says has led to it creating a “difficult” budget.
Despite criticism of a budget which was described as “horrific” by one councillor, no other party presented an alternative.
A full council meeting yesterday (Tuesday, February 24) narrowly agreed a balanced budget over the life of the first multi-year settlement in a decade, which required the council’s net revenue budget to increase from £842m in 2025/26 to £975m in 2028/29.
The budget includes savings totalling £59m this year, £49m in 2027/28 and £46m in 2028/29 – just over £154m in total over the three-year period.
The council tax requirement for the council’s own purposes was set at £468.8m with the Cornwall Council element increased by 2.99%, plus a levy of 2% to be spent solely on adult social care – an overall increase of 4.99%, equivalent to a Band D charge of £2,086.36.
That means an extra £1.91 per week for what is described as an average property (Band D). Though the meeting heard that only 15% of Cornish residents live in Band D properties or above.
Presenting the budget, the council’s deputy leader Cllr Adam Paynter told the Lys Kernow (County Hall) chamber in Truro: “Make no mistake, it’s one of the most difficult budgets this council has ever had to set.”
He said that “the sands have somewhat shifted” following draft budget proposals in December, which looked more favourable for Cornwall following earlier indications from Westminster.
Cllr Paynter reiterated comments he made in a cabinet meeting earlier this month that the Government’s final settlement for Cornwall Council was “deeply disappointing” and did not meet the scale of the pressures that the local authority faces.
He said it felt like the Government had turned its back on rural areas in favour of gaining political support in its urban heartlands.
Council leader Cllr Leigh Frost thanked Lib Dem MP Ben Maguire and Labour’s Jayne Kirkham MP for “pushing ministers on our behalf” over fairer funding for Cornwall. He added, however, that Cornwall had received a “disappointing settlement” and that Government spending power for urban councils is increasing by 20%, while rural councils like Cornwall are seeing increases of 2%.
“It means that places like Cornwall are being asked to stretch our already stretched finances even further. This is not the outcome we argued for and it’s not the outcome Cornwall wants or needs, particularly during a cost of living crisis that is showing very little signs of easing.”
The debate was then opened up for the leaders of all the opposition groups which sit on the council.
Cllr Paul Ashton, leader of the Reform UK group, said his councillors would not be able to support the budget.
He added that the three-year budget was being framed as “balanced, stable and responsible” but there were limitations “and so many uncertainties” within it.
“In reality we are being asked to endorse a plan which is based on a range of assumptions rather than concrete certainties.” He asked why the council was not reducing its £1.7bn debt burden so that capital projects money could be used to support transformational change instead.
The daily interest payments on the debt are currently over £150,000, he added.
Cllr Ashton said that the decision by the Labour Government not to recognise Cornwall’s remoteness and demographic spread “does not make sense”. He said the Reform group had decided it was “not feasible” to come up with an alternative budget this year, but would focus on areas within the second and third years of the budget that were of most concern.
Cllr Connor Donnithorne, leader of the Conservative group, said his group could have “played politics” and voted against the budget “but that would have done nothing for the people of Cornwall”.
He welcomed the decision by cabinet to remove restrictions on 24/7 free bus passes from the budget following lobbying by the Tory group and other councillors.
Like other opposition councillors, he also referenced a local government settlement “that has hurt Cornwall” after taking out the remoteness factor from its original funding commitment.
Cllr Laurie Magowan, deputy leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group, which was not supporting the budget, said his councillors had a number of concerns with a budget “which continues to burden Cornwall Council with increasing capital debt, Cornish residents with the maximum permissible council tax rise and sees concerning proposals regarding the loss of council jobs and the withdrawal of previous Foundation Living Wage commitments impacting the lowest paid workers”.
He noted the financial challenges the administration faced, particularly with the reduction of the rurality element of the provisional financial settlement by his own Government, “which originally looked so promising for Cornwall”.
Cllr Magowan said Cornwall’s budget reflected the difficult decisions having to be made by the national Government, “which are easy to criticise by those not making them”.
He added that there had been a renewed level of national interest in Cornwall, with his Government introducing a multi-year settlement for the first time, ending “annual uncertainty”, while also providing a 27% increase in core spending power for Cornwall by the end of this Parliament.
Cllr Magowan also mentioned the Government’s decision to pay off 90% of the council’s SEND deficit, meaning £72m will be reduced from its debt, as well as a £61m uplift for potholes and road repairs alongside the £30 Kernow Industrial Growth Fund.
The Cornish Independent Non-Aligned Group (CING) abstained, refusing to offer unqualified support for a spending plan that its councillors warn could fall disproportionately on rural communities and Cornwall’s most vulnerable residents.
The group’s leader, Cllr Rowland O’Connor, said: “We owe our communities an honest account of what they receive in return for paying more. In rural Cornwall, the services targeted for savings are often the only ones available. Losing them doesn’t mean inconvenience – it means losing everything.”
Cllr Dick Cole, leader of the Mebyon Kernow group, said he’d looked back at previous budget day debates “and every year we seem to be in the same position – making cuts or being pressured to increase council tax by the maximum allowable amount just to keep going”.
“It feels that Westminster governments change but that disrespect for basic local government and its services continues,” said Cllr Cole, who added that maximum council tax increases impact the people who are least able to cope.
“Shock, horror … the fairer funding review wasn’t fair. Cornwall isn’t getting anywhere near what our Celtic cousins in Scotland and Wales are securing.
“The most telling thing today is that there are no amendments – the financial pressures are so tight that people are struggling to come up with alternatives.” As a result, he said MK did not have any alternative but to support the budget.
Cllr Drew Creek, leader of the Green Party group, slammed a £100,000 cut to the council’s climate change team, but he thanked the cabinet for ending the PSO subsidy return flights from Newquay to London Gatwick, following pressure from him and Labour group leader Cllr Kate Ewert.
He said the Greens remained concerned about the climate commitments the council made to its residents, which could not now be “hollowed out”.
Former cabinet member Cllr Andrew Mitchell said: “There is nothing here for Cornwall residents to celebrate. This is horrific.” Concerning central government funding, he added: “We have been screwed over yet again.”
He criticised a number of capital projects: “They have either stalled or, in some cases, have absolutely failed. We don’t seem to have a way within this council of stepping back from those – Langarth, Pydar Street, the airport and, oh my God, the spaceport.”
The vote was carried in favour of supporting the budget with 43 for, 22 against and 18 abstentions.
Councillors also voted in favour of a 4.8% increase in rent for its council house / flats tenants during the meeting.