‘Residents face a very difficult year’: Chesterfield Liberal Democrats call for council tax freeze

Local authorities across the UK are currently making decisions about council tax.

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Labour-led Chesterfield Borough Council is yet to decide whether or not to increase bills – but town hall bosses have pointed out it ‘continues to be a challenging time’ financially.

Paul Holmes, leader of 17 Liberal Democrat councillors on the authority, said: “Although Covid is easing, residents face a very difficult year with huge energy price increases, rising tax and rising inflation.

“Labour politicians are always calling on the Government to do something about this.

“Now they can put their money, or rather taxpayers’ money, where their mouth is.

“They can actually do something instead of just trying to pass the buck to others all the time.

“A standard 1.99 per cent council tax increase would raise just under £100,000 extra for Chesterfield Borough Council.

“Freezing council tax instead, plus scrapping the above inflation £143,000 increase in car park charges, would be a real boost for hard-pressed local residents.

“So here is the challenge to Labour councillors: do something practical instead of just blaming everybody else.”

Coun Holmes said the borough council received an ‘unexpected’ £1.37million from the Government for 2022-23.

“Freezing council tax and car park charges entirely would still leave Chesterfield Borough Council with an unexpected windfall of over £1.1m,” he added.

“Mansfield, a slightly smaller council than Chesterfield, was given an unexpected £400,000 extra by the Government.

“The Labour leader of Mansfield council has already announced that he will therefore cancel their expected council tax increase.

“Chesterfield should do the same.”

He added: “Doubtless Chesterfield town hall bosses will say that they need the money to help cover their predicted overspends for each of the next few years.

“Their first thought should be to get a grip of their overspending and not to just constantly dip their hands into local residents’ pockets – especially when residents face such a huge cost-of-living increase this year.”

The Derbyshire Times put Coun Holmes’ comments to the borough council.

A spokesperson for the authority said: “No decision has yet been taken on setting the council’s share of the council tax bills that Chesterfield households will receive for 2022-23.

“It continues to be a challenging time to balance the council’s budgets, which is a legal requirement, especially given the ongoing pressures created by the pandemic.

“As always, our priority is to protect the essential facilities and services that local people rely on, whilst also retaining the ability to invest in Chesterfield’s economy and communities.

“We are currently considering our options and a final decision on the matter will be taken at a meeting of the full council on February 23, 2022.”

Last February, the authority approved what it called a ‘small’ increase in council tax – this was an extra 6.4 pence a week for the majority of properties in the borough, or a total rise of £3.33 on the previous year’s bill.

At the time, figures showed the coronavirus crisis had led to more than £7.6m in lost revenue for the borough council.

In 2020, the authority said it had lost £1.9m each year in Government funding since 2015.

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