Pendle News Room

The Council has experienced significant reductions in its government funding since 2010 and it’s expected this will continue at least until 2020.

It needs to save around £4.8m by 2019/20 and to achieve this Management Team is proposing to increase a number of fees and charges and a number of ways to save money.

It’s part of the Council’s financial strategy which aims to grow, charge and save*.

The Income Review 2016 report suggests that some charges for services should increase but others should have no extra cost attached.

Those which are not proposed to change include:

• market rents
• garden waste scheme
• stray dog fines
• adult sports pitches

Those which are proposed to change include:

• Local Land Charges – an increase of £10 per search
• new charge of £20  for rats, mice and cockroaches in residential properties
• new charge of £7.50 per booking for junior football pitches
• 1% increase in the hourly rate for Building Control

Meanwhile, the Budget Savings 2017/18 report highlights a number of savings options including:

• transferring services such as parks, playing fields and garages to Town and Parish Councils
• reducing the overall cost of staffing by not filling vacant posts, allowing flexible retirement and voluntary redundancies
• reducing its budget for property repairs and maintenance by £30,000
• reducing road sweeping (except in autumn) and replacing older bin wagons to smaller and more efficient ones
• closing the existing Discover Pendle Centre at Boundary Mill and re-launching it within the main store.

Dean Langton, Strategic Director, said: “These proposals have been developed as part of our bid to achieve a balanced budget while endeavouring to maintain services wherever possible.

“We’ve taken great care when coming up with our proposals but there are some difficult decisions to be made.”

Councillor Mohammed Iqbal, Leader of Pendle Council, added: “We’re being forced to consider these options because of the extent of ongoing cuts by central government.

“I must stress that they are just Management Team’s proposals at this stage and no decisions have been taken.

“We’ll carefully consider both reports at the Executive.”

If the Executive approves the budget savings proposals in its Budget savings 2017/18 report it will be considered by Council in October.

To see the full reports go to http://www.pendle.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/2228/executive

Notes to editors

•          GROW – doing what we can to grow business rates, new homes bonus and council tax

•          CHARGE – ensuring we maximise income for current and new charges for services

•          SAVE – reducing the cost of delivering services