Report from Council Leader on the Erewash Budget 2014/15 

I would like to start by paying tribute to the Council’s Director of Resources and his staff who have produced a robust and fully costed budget and also express my appreciation of the work done by Councillor Stephenson who laid the groundwork which enabled yet another good news budget to be presented.

Once again this Conservative controlled Council has succeeded in freezing its share of our residents’ Council Tax for a fifth consecutive year.

Moving on to more good news. Car parking charges have not increased again this coming year, we have seen no increase since 2008 – six years ago.

 We have been talking to our residents, the Chambers of Trade and the other organisations who represent our local businesses and market traders and we will be making the use of our car parks much easier for our residents by making tickets transferable between car parks, even between Long Eaton and Ilkeston. The number of free for half an hour spaces which we introduced last year, will be tripled to over 60 also from April.

In addition, we are proposing that our Bulky Waste Service be free this coming year. We feel that it is worth doing this as it was high on our residents’ wish lists and should reduce the amount of fly-tipping seen in our countryside and our towns.

This year will be the anniversary of the start of World War One and we have therefore put aside an extra £30,000 to ensure that all our War Memorials are up to scratch.

A further £30,000 has also be committed to extend the scheme of grants for minor works to shop fronts, which is being extended to Long Eaton and Sandiacre. This is on top of the current Golden hello schemes which will continue as will the £250,000 Regeneration Pot which was set up last year.

I am sure that the worshippers at Long Eaton Parish Church will be delighted that included in this budget is the money to pay for repairing all the footpaths around the Parish Church. 

The final three Council-owned Play areas have been allocated funds for upgrading as have the changing rooms at Sawley Park and the Victoria Park Bandstand.

May I say how pleased I am that the renovations for the Petersham Hall will now be completed in this coming financial year, much earlier than the three year programme originally planned.

And before I forget, Councillor Smith and I visited the St Laurence Nursery behind Long Eaton Library and were most impressed with the excellent work they do for local children in difficult circumstances. We have therefore included the sum of £140,000 to refurbish the building this year.

I would however like to mention just one more proposal which I hope will be welcomed by both Parties and that is a Member Grant Scheme to be run on the same basis as the County Council scheme. This will allow each Councillor up to £500 each year to spend on supporting projects within their own ward. There will of course, just like the County Council, have to be checks in place and formal procedures, but I am firmly of the view that it is the ward Member who is close to his residents who knows where just a small amount of money, (perhaps some toys for a play group) will make a real impact on their local community.

On Capital spending, I would say that at present there are no plans whatsoever to place the Council in the position of having to borrow to support its Capital Programme.

It must seem very strange to outsiders that Erewash can freeze its Council Tax and yet increase its spending on what our residents say are their priorities. Even Radio Derby asked me “is it Too Good to be True”. To which I answered, it is true and it is good.

But the longer answer is quite straightforward really: we plan ahead. 

We are careful and treat the residents’ money as though it were our own. 

We are very good at getting grants from elsewhere so that a lot of what is spent in Erewash is someone else’s money.

And we are pro-active at looking at ways to work more efficiently and to do more for less. Indeed we have made efficiency savings in the current year of £500,000.

Value for money and careful planning will continue to be our watchwords as this Council works to obtain outside grants whereever possible and to keep down everyone’s costs in these difficult times.

On a Political note, what surprised those members of the public who attended the Council meeting was that despite lots of noise and interruptions from the Labour side they did not come up with any costed proposals of their own and then all but two of them abstained, when it came to the vote.

I suppose it was difficult for the Opposition as most of them did not want to be seen to vote against popular proposals which our residents had asked for.

Chris Corbett

Conservative Leader

Erewash Borough Council