Lowest ever Council Tax increase on the cards with local Lib Dems

12.00.00am GMT Wed 10th Feb 2010

Liberal Democrats on Sheffield City Council have announced that they are on course to set the lowest council tax increase that Sheffield has ever seen. The planned 1.5% increase is well below inflation and would be the lowest increase on record for the second year running under the Lib Dems. In the past Sheffield had seen Council Tax increases as high as 10% with Labour in control of the Council.

The budget for next year includes £2 million for new free fortnightly recycling collections. They will begin for every household in Sheffield during this year for plastic bottles, tin cans and glass as well as free monthly collections for garden waste too. Also over £3 million is being invested to help local business and local people back into work.

Under Lib Dem plans there will be also be a single Council contact number and email, a new Council website, and a new customer service centre with extended opening hours into the evening (8am to 8pm). The Council will also run the second year of the new city-wide out-of-hours noise to tackle noisy neighbours.

The Council has managed to make savings in this budget, including cutting the numbers of senior managers.

Cllr Paul Scriven, Leader of Sheffield City Council said: "By finding ways to keep costs down and doing things more efficiently, we have been able to recommend the lowest council tax increase ever for Sheffield, whilst at the same time delivering on local people's priorities. Sheffielders will be able to do more recycling at home because of the new kerbside recycling for plastics, glass and tins we're introducing over the course of this year, and we're also putting more investment into helping people get back to work and providing a boost for local businesses, which is much needed because of the recession."

Cllr Simon Clement-Jones, Cabinet Member for Finance and Customer Focused Services from Sheffield City Council said: "We promised a council tax increase of no higher than 1.5 percent for this coming year, and that's what we're delivering, despite the economic downturn and the likely funding decreases from central government. This is the lowest council tax increase there's ever been. And what's more, we are still working towards achieving our promise of no increase in council tax in two years time, 2011-12."

Sheffield City Council's Cabinet are expected to agree the budget proposals at their meeting on February 17, and the budget will also be considered at a meeting of the Full Council on March 5.