Luton Borough Council

22/02/2022 - Luton Council's budget for 2022/23 approved

At a full council meeting last night budget proposals for the council’s 2022/23 budget were accepted.

Following the difficult years of the pandemic in which income to the council was significantly restricted, this budget includes significant additional investment of £2m in services such as street cleansing, enforcement and highways which residents told us were especially important to them.

Keeping our streets tidy, in particular, is something that matters to so many of us and this sense of civic pride has shown itself in recent months with a number of groups across the town getting out to clean up their local area.

This budget represents our determination to provide the best possible value for money to residents as we deliver on our Luton 2040 vision of ensuring our town is a place where everyone can thrive and no-one has to live in poverty.

As part of the meeting, councillors Sian Goding and Aslam Khan (the former on behalf of Leader, Hazel Simmons who was unable to attend) spoke of the significant progress already made towards this vision and the reasons for optimism going forward.

By far the largest slice of budget expenditure will go on caring for the vulnerable – families, children and adults in need. Along with money for educating our children, we expect this to account for nearly 60 per cent of all expenditure.

Council tax will rise this by just under three per cent. Most councils across the country have had to do this to balance their budgets. This figure includes an amount, known as a precept, for social care of one per cent. Not only will this keep our rates the lowest in Bedfordshire and one of the lowest rates for a Unitary Council in the country, but we are confident this will enable us to avoid any additional reduction in the important public services we provide.

Challenges remain. Over the next couple of years the impact of the pandemic and uncertainty around long-term finance settlements from the government will still cast a shadow over our finances, but the work we have already done gives us great confidence in our ability to adjust to whatever difficulties there may be.

Councillor Andy Malcolm, portfolio holder for finance, said: “I am delighted this budget has been passed. The past two years have seen significant challenge, but I believe last night, with this budget, we turned a page and moved closer to our ambition for public services in our town.

“In line with our 2040 vision, this budget sees investment in our town centre and street cleaning, increased funding for repairing our roads and improving playgrounds. This is core to our vision to be a child friendly town we can all be proud of.

“Each year preparing our budget is a huge task and I would particularly like to thank the council’s finance team who have worked so hard on this over the past months.”

Follow this link to read the full budget papers.