Cuts and tax rises in new Council budget

Lewisham Council has approved a budget for 2016/17, which will combine Council Tax rises and spending cuts. The full details are available here, but the headline figures are:

- A 3.99% increase in Band D Council Tax for Lewisham’s services for 2016/17; including the 2% increase announced in the Local Government Finance Settlement for Social Care, along with the withdrawal of the Government’s freeze grant of £1.0m.

- £10.752m of revenue budget savings are proposed for 2016/17

- A rent decrease of 1.0% (an average of £0.99 per week) in respect of dwelling rents, 1.0% (average £0.39 per week) in respect of hostels, and a range of other proposed changes to service charges. The proposed annual expenditure for the Housing Revenue Account is £167.6m, including the capital and new build programme, for 2016/17

Thanks to Monkeyboy for the heads-up.