Council budget passed at second attempt

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Council tax will rise by 2.99 per cent in Bristol after the city council passed its budget at the second attempt.

But the pact agreed in advance between Labour mayor Marvin Rees’s administration and opposition Conservatives, which ensured the financial plans for the next 12 months and beyond had enough votes, was blasted as an “unholy alliance”.

It means the council’s portion of council tax will rise by £55.20 to £1,901.22 for an average Band D property and by £42.93 to £1,478.72 for B and B households, which are the most numerous in the city.

Adding on the much smaller increases for Avon & Somerset Police and Avon Fire Authority, total bills landing on Band D doormats from April 1 will be £2,230.37 and for Band B £1,734.74.

Full council, which met on Wednesday, March 2 first had to decide on the budget as amended at the previous meeting last month when members voted in favour of five of the nine sets of proposed opposition changes.

But because the mayor had not accepted all these, it required a two-thirds majority to succeed and the Labour and Tory councillors’ votes ensured it fell by 33-27.

Rees’s alternative budget, which included some of the Greens’ wish list such as residents’ parking schemes and protecting free parking, along with Conservative requests to repair Kingsweston Iron Bridge and reduce bulky waste collection charges, among others, was then approved after another debate.

The historic iron bridge connects Kingsweston Estate and Blaise Castle – photo: Claire Coyne

Heather Mack, leader of the main opposition Greens and councillor for Lockleaze, said the revised budget had some positives but it excluded several of her group’s suggestions which full council had approved last time, including reopening public toilets.

She said: “It is fundamentally wrong to make deep cuts to services like those in this budget while also adding millions to the council’s reserves.”

Green councillor for Redland Martin Fodor said the Conservative-Labour agreement was an “unholy alliance”, adding: “This isn’t a cross party budget, it’s a backroom deal budget where a Labour-Tory coalition seeks to bypass the actual representation across the city.”

Knowle Community councillor Gary Hopkins told the meeting that Conservative and Labour members were performing “somersaults” by voting the opposite way to a fortnight earlier.

Conservative group leader and councillor for Henbury & Brentry Mark Weston said: “The budget isn’t perfect but this is a time for pragmatism and responsible, grown-up politics.”

Rees told members: “This is a budget for homes, a budget for inclusion and a budget for decarbonisation. We are unapologetically ambitious.”

He said afterwards: “I’m pleased that councillors recognised that we incorporated cross-party proposals and voted across party lines to support this budget.

“There were, in total, 17 revisions to the budget initially put forward – these were sensible, well-reasoned spending proposals and I was happy to incorporate them into the budget.

The mayor added: “Frontline services and community assets such as schools, libraries, and children’s services remain protected and invested in, despite continued austerity.

“I am immensely proud of this budget and the fact we have managed to bridge the savings gap while protecting the city’s worst-off and investing huge sums of money in council homes.”

The previous full council meeting of Bristol City Council, on February 15, ended when Rees exercised his right to take five days to reconsider the budget following the successful amendments.

Main photo: Marvin Rees

Read more: ‘Stalemate’ as mayor postpones decision on budget

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