Winchester City Council Approves Budget for 2025/26
Winchester City Council has approved a balanced budget for the upcoming year, which supports vulnerable people, addresses the climate emergency, improves recycling and protects our environment.
The budget sets out a commitment to the roll out of weekly food waste recycling collections to all households later this year with £595,000 allocated this year (£460,000 as one-off funding).
It has a strong emphasis on supporting vulnerable people, with additional funding to help prevent homelessness (an additional £300,000) and a revision of income bands for the council tax reduction scheme – ensuring that support continues to be received after the changes to the DWPs universal credit scheme.
Recognising the ongoing impact of the cost of living, the council has also extended the Council Tax Exceptional Hardship Fund into 2025/6.
The budget also allocates funding to increase capacity for planning enforcement cases, to help protect the district’s communities, its heritage and the natural environment from harmful unauthorised development.
The budget has been aligned to help achieve the council's priorities following approval of the new council plan, which was developed following public consultation. The Plan’s priorities include:
- Going Greener Faster
- Thriving Places
- Healthy Communities
- Good homes for all
The council has committed to do this in a way that’s:
- Efficient and effective
- And where it's listening and learning
The full council meeting also approved an average council tax increase of 2.7%. For a Band D property, the City Council’s share of the council tax bill will be £163.66 per year (an increase of £4.30 per year).
The council’s immediate financial position is stable. However, as with many local authorities, it faces increasing budget pressure long term, which it is addressing through its transformation programme, focusing on reviewing contracts, creating an effective and efficient digital service and generating more income.
Speaking about the budget, Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance Cllr Neil Cutler said:
“I’m very pleased that we continue to be able to present a balanced budget for the forthcoming year. It is a budget that ensures we continue to enhance services for our residents and invest in projects that will create healthier communities, tackle climate change, increase access to housing and make the district a more vibrant place for residents, visitors and businesses. It also recognises future funding challenges which we’re addressing ahead of time. While we don’t have the same urgency as some of our neighbours, we expect government funding to reduce in future so we need to plan for these now.”