Green bins tax increase among measures put forward in West Berkshire budget as council asks for government cash to stave off going into debt

West Berkshire Council is asking for a £16m handout from government to stave off going in to debt.

And the green bin tax goes up to £75 in top council band properties, and down for those under band D, generating another £140k for the cash strapped authority.

Its cash reserves are now projected to dip to around £2m.…that's £5m below its own safety net.

But the council said it wants to pay the Government back - if granted the money - once it sells some of its commercial property investments. Those are worth around £60m, and include supermarkets, business park buildings and a petrol station in the North East.

“This budget reflects the harsh reality of the current financial climate that faces all councils across the country," said Iain Cottingham (Lib Dem, Thatcham Central), executive member for finance.

"As the demand and cost of statutory services that we provide to the most vulnerable residents in West Berkshire continues to rise, we continue to find innovative ways, such as AI, to improve our financial efficiency.

“It has been a significant challenge to set a balanced budget which underpins our council strategy.”

Around 29 other councils in England have asked for emergency cash from government, all similarly blaming increases in costs, variances in costs for social care services and interest rates.

West Berkshire Council has now unveiled its budget for 2025/26 - setting out how it will spend £187m delivering services across the district and £73m on capital projects.

It has already stated that a 4.99 per cent council tax increase, the maximum allowed, will happen.

Around 1,700 people responded to public consultations on things like turning street lights off, selling adult social care respite centres to private contractors and shifting the Downlands sports centre off its books.

As a result, the streetlights stay on - but not very brightly - still saving about £40k.

Downlands stays open and the council says it wants to boost membership and use of it.

Among the projects scheduled for delivery next year under the spending programme is a new solar farm at Grazeley. The council said £18.6m will be spent delivering the solar farm and it hopes it will start generating income.

There will be improvements to local roads and pavements and to local schools too.

A total of £2.3m will be spent replacing eight classrooms at Falkland Primary School, which are currently in old, pre-fabricated modular buildings; £1m providing two additional classrooms at Brookfields School; and £886,000 on four new classrooms at The Castle School.

“In setting our budget we must find the right balance between protecting the most vulnerable people across our district, improving the services we provide to all our residents and investing in our local economy," said Jeff Brooks (Lib Dem, Thatcham West), council leader.

“We must also make sure that our reserves are healthy to respond to growing pressures, particularly within our children and adult care needs, and be available as “rainy day money”.

“There are tremendous financial demands across the country within local councils and we are not immune to these pressures.

“We are spending much more on children and adult care – investing over £8m extra in this area in the next year as demand continues to grow.

“We are also transforming the way we do things, and you should see continuing improvements in our services. Greater efficiency has enabled us to invest in our sports centres and our libraries as well as our roads.

“We must protect, invest in and improve our services and I am confident that this budget will achieve these aims.

“Together – councillors and council officers - we will continue to deliver services you can be proud of, and which we are proud to deliver.”

The budget is due to be considered for approval by the council on February 27.