2015-16 Budget

Working up a draft budget for the next two years has been a hugely difficult process after the government reduced the council’s spending power by 6.4% - the highest in the south east. Leading councillors and senior officers have spent many hours poring through the council’s spending - every pound has been examined to check if it is really needed. We have carried out in depth reviews of or largest spending areas and sought to improve and rationalise our internal processes

But we for the council’s 2015/16 budget it has been impossible to avoid further job losses and cuts to council services. However, key services to local people have been protected as best they can be.

We are reducing the number of directors from three to two, and we will look at the remainder of our senior management structure during this year with a view to making further savings. The loss of council posts has been restricted to around 20 this year, perhaps 40 over a two-year period – which is about 10% of our workforce. 

But we have managed to protect those services most dear to the hearts of local people and those that make the biggest difference to the town. However, some savings will still be difficult to swallow.

Of each £1 residents pay in council tax, just 14p comes to Hastings Borough Council, the rest goes to East Sussex County Council, Sussex Police, and the East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service. The budget includes a 1.9% increase in Hastings Borough Council’s element of the council tax, which will cost the average Band D council tax payer an extra £4.48 per year, or just under 10p per week.

Car park charges will also go up for the first time in two years and be frozen for the next two years. 

Over the next  two years the council will use around £1m of the reserves it built up to help cushion the transition down to a smaller, lower spending authority.

In 2015/16 the Old Town Museum is earmarked for closure with its displays to be taken to the main museum off Cambridge Road.  Only the Hastings Sierra Leone Friendship Link will receive any twinning money – there will no financial support for links with the other twin towns. There will be a significant cut in support for the annual Hastings Chess Congress and a reduction in the support the council has been able to give local community organisations.

The council is looking to make over £200,000 of savings by enabling more payment s by residents and contacts with the council to be completed electronically. It is also reducing its accommodation needs by introducing more flexible working arrangements for council staff. With computerised contact more staff can work from home at times or if out on the road not need to come back in to write reports. As a result a whole floor of the main Aquila House office block could be made vacant and available for letting out and so bringing in an income.

It is inevitable that we will become a smaller organisation delivering fewer services over the next two years because the money is not there. We will be putting renewed effort into looking for external funding opportunities, from Europe, etc. to try to sustain some of the important initiatives we have begun. However, even with fewer resources our commitment to reviving the town and improving the lives of local people remains.

The budget is now out for public consultation so let us know your views. The final decision will then be made at the full council meeting on 25^th February.

New Year, New Challenges

I’m confident 2015 is going to be a particularly significant year for our town. Hastings Pier will rise from the ashes – and I’m really pleased the council’s compulsory purchase of the structure played a big part in the restoration and the coming re-opening. Nearby the old White Rock Baths (where Miss Penny taught me to swim all those years ago) will at last come back into use in 2015 as a major new centre for BMX biking.

The council has further exciting plans for the seafront which we have been consulting local people on. The seafront is our shop window and as it improves so the whole town looks more attractive and appealing to visitors or to those planning to move here or relocate their business here. I  am determined we will make progress on the old Bathing Pool site in 2015 and the council will be looking at new ideas to unlock the economic potential of the White Rock and Falaise area.

The Bexhill-Hastings Link Road will open in 2015 and if that significantly reduces traffic on the seafront let’s look at how we can civilise that wide concrete space that separates the town from the sea.

Our open spaces will see significant progress in 2015. In the East a new visitor centre is planned for our treasured Country Park and a new visitor facility and play area are being prepared in the West in the new Combe Valley Countryside Park.

But we are not just about high profile improvements; we want to make sure everyone benefits from the revival of Hastings. The council has been consulting on the introduction of a licensing scheme for all privately rented accommodation in large parts of the town to ensure decent homes for tenants. In 2015 the council also plans to trial running a social lettings agency itself – which should benefit tenants and landlords alike. We will also be launching a second phase of the Coastal Space project with AmicusHorizon in Central St Leonards – buying up, improving and letting as social housing a further 50 flats.

In 2015 we will be retaining the same discount arrangements on council tax for benefit claimants despite the government taking away 10% of the funds for this. We will also be looking at how the activities funded by the life-saving local welfare assistance fund can be continued despite the government ending this special pot of money.

2015 will see the plans coming together for the major national cultural festival to mark 2016 the 950^th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. Cultural regeneration will continue to be a major feature of our work to continue the town’s upward momentum.

I believe Hastings is at a turning point. The positive national press coverage over the last few months indicates how people around the country are looking at our town differently – as a town that is improving, that is creative and lively, a town really going somewhere. 2015 will see further progress in the renaissance of Hastings.

There is, however, a dark cloud hanging over Hastings Borough Council. We are facing the largest reduction in our spending power of any council in the south east following the government’s funding settlement for local authorities. We face a 6.4% reduction in 2015; Wealden council covering affluent places like Crowborough and Wadhurst will see a 1.4% rise. Difficult decisions will have to be made in this year’s council budget, but we will do everything we can to protect jobs and the council services that local residents value the most.