West Oxfordshire District Council Executive agree balanced budget and more investment in local services and priorities

The final draft of the Council’s budget shows that thanks to additional income coming in from efficiencies, the Council can invest more resources into providing better leisure and wellbeing options for residents, enforcing planning breaches, managing trees and better administering the Councils' estates. 

Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance, said, "We have an ambitious plan to deliver better services, support communities and improve our district but ten years of funding cuts and high inflation have left us with far less money to spend on local services.  

“In the last year we have made significant savings by better managing our estates and renegotiating contracts. We have also successfully brought in significant funding from external sources for local improvements, including £100k for PropTech Innovation Fund and £101k for Planning Skills Delivery Fund. 

"This has enabled us to not only develop a balanced budget for the coming year but also consider improving local services. We are confident in our ability to minimise the impact of the ongoing financial challenge facing local government and we will work hard to maintain service quality and invest in our community over the coming years. 

Alongside investing in the district, the Council is committed to delivering further efficiencies to help manage the longer-term risk of reduced funding from the Government. Significant efficiencies have been achieved over the past year such as saving £125,000 in customer services, while still being a top-ranked council, and also boosting recycling revenues by £300,000 through renegotiated contracts. 

“Every pound of your council tax counts.” adds Councillor Smith. “We receive about 10% of the total council tax you pay, yet provide more than 50 services, from waste collections to clearing fly tipping to support for people facing homelessness.  

“Our longer-term financial forecast is still strained but we are confident that with continued prudent management of our finances we can continue to invest in improving the district and also deliver high quality services.” 

Alongside the service efficiencies the Council now has the scope to achieve additional income from changes that allow council tax to be raised on second homes. Overall, the core spending power of the Council, after allowing for the Council Tax increase below, is intrinsically the same as in 2024/25.  

The budget includes a £5 increase on band D Council Tax which is an assumption built into the Government’s budgeting model over recent years. In the coming years, it is expected the Council’s budget will decrease based on announcements made this year on changes to local government funding. 

The budget will go to Full Council on 26 February, where Councillors will be voting on the final budget.