Tuesday 1st March 2011

It has been announced by Chesterfield Borough Council tonight at its budget setting meeting that there is to be no increase in its Council Tax for next year, keeping it the lowest in Derbyshire.

The Council says it has made significant efficiency savings across its budgets without making any impact on frontline services, and is now confident of its ability to balance its budgets both this year and next, having built up reserves of over £7m, and confirms it has no plans to declare job losses.

The many voluntary sector organisations that the Council supports, including the Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre, Chesterfield Law Centre and Chesterfield Citizens Advice Bureau will also benefit from today's decision as the level of Council grant aid made available to them remains secure for 2011/12.

Cllr Ray Russell, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council is very proud of the achievement and says it's been as a result of many tough decisions. "Our sound financial management of the Council's budgets over many years has enabled us to freeze Council Tax for 2011/12," he said "which is good news for our residents, many of whom are feeling the squeeze financially at the present time.

"There has been a lot said in the media about how cuts are affecting the voluntary sector and how these much needed and often vital services are at risk.  We've managed to retain the grant allocations for the organisations we support for next year as we recognise the important role they play in supporting the Borough’s residents.

"We've had a tough couple of years because of the £3.2m shortfall in funding for concessionary bus fares. This and other funding pressures have encouraged the Council to adopt a modern approach to how it delivers services, with the overriding question always - is this the best deal for our residents and businesses? 

"We now run some of our services with Bolsover and North East Derbyshire District Councils, we have transferred assets to the voluntary sector, our golf course is now operated by a Leisure Trust though still owned by us, and we have recently established a ground-breaking public-private partnership with Arvato to manage many of our back-office services, our customer services centre and our revenues and benefits service, likewise with Kier to manage our property assets.

"In taking these decisions, we have seen improvements in customer satisfaction, new investment in our facilities, secured jobs for staff and achieved significant efficiency savings, of the order of £3.25m over three financial years.

"It is no co-incidence that between 2008 and 2010, public satisfaction with the way the Council runs things has increased by 20% from 48% to 68%.  54% of our residents also agree that the Council provides value for money, a 16% increase on the position reported in 2008.

"We are not, however, complacent and recognise that services have to be delivered in different ways so we can bring in the necessary funding to maintain high quality services and to upgrade and modernise our facilities."

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