No green bin emptying charges

York’s new Conservative-Liberal Democrat Executive has revealed plans to increase investment in frontline services by nearly £2million in its Emergency Budget.

 The emergency in-year budget scraps Labour’s plans to charge residents for all green bin collections and sees increased  investment in ward committees, recycling and support for small business. The budget puts an extra £250,000 annually into road improvements and sees funding to support local and rural bus services.

The Executive’s plans will be funded by reducing spending in areas such as trade union activity, use of consultants and social media. The budget sees money from contingency funds and underspends diverted into frontline services. In light of the financial challenges facing the council, a series of reviews will also be undertaken in housing, customer services as well as a bottom-up review of health and social care policy.

 

 

Incoming

• Scrapping plans to charge for green bin emptying or reduce grey bin emptying frequencies
• Two extra green bin empties during winter
• £250,000 a year investment in highway maintenance
• More for street sweeping
• More for salting roads and footpaths in winter.
• More transparent decision making
• Improved customer interfaces
• Restoring the cuts to Community Centre funding
• Encouraging local small business to tender for Council contracts
• Increased support for local and rural bus services
• New Ward committee budgets which will be spent in line with local residents wishes

Outgoing:

• Funding for an “Arts Barge”
• The use of expensive “consultants”
• Subsidies for Trades Unions
• The trial bus service between the railway station and the hospital
• Funding for political propaganda

 

Overall the proposals are step in the right direction.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Lib Dem Group Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, commented:

 “This emergency budget is about reversing some of the worst of Labour’s cuts and putting extra money immediately into the frontline services that matter to residents. We are scrapping plans to charge residents for all green bin collections as well as re-introducing winter collections. Extra funding will be put into road repairs and gritting, community centres, and helping small businesses. The budget also supports our plans to introduce cross-party decision making and devolve more power to ward committees. I am delighted that it also sees extra investment to help boost the attainment of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Full details of the budget changes can be found by clicking here