Stratford-on-Avon District Council's budget consultation results

Stratford-on-Avon District Council recently undertook a budget consultation exercise to help inform the District Council's budget for the next financial year.

Highlights include:

• 90% of respondents thought the District Council offered Value for Money with a Council Tax of £137.07 for a Band D property.  This is one point up from the previous year and the second highest figure recorded in the last ten surveys.
• 63% of respondents agree that 'it is important for the District Council to maintain current levels of service, even if this means increasing Council Tax by more than £5 a year.'
• Residents would like to see an increase in the CCTV and Crime Reduction provision.
• Residents would like to see a decrease in the provision of Local Economy and Tourism Promotion.
• Support for the homelessness prevention tools (69%) was first choice for residents out of the new budget proposals, followed by the UBUS (67%) and Wellesbourne Airfield (61%).
• Around two-thirds of respondents felt the quality of Council services was good overall.

Cllr Tony Jefferson, Leader of Stratford-on-Avon District Council, says: "The results make interesting reading and support many of our initiatives. We are particularly pleased that 90% of residents think that we offer value for money. We are investing in a new and enhanced CCTV system and in addition are implementing a series of measures for homelessness prevention, UBUS and the potential for the Compulsory Purchase of Wellesbourne airfield have our full support. 

"For a number of years we have faced continued financial pressures together with reducing funding allocations from central government and it's good to see that residents understand and are aware of the cuts to public service funding and have an appreciation of the balancing act that councils have to do."

506 questionnaires were returned from a mailing to 1,063 residents on the District Council's Citizens' Panel in January 2019, representing a response rate of 48.1%.

Over the past few years, all councils have seen cuts in their financial support from central government. Since 2010, the District Council has seen all of its grant from central government cut from £3.9m in 2013/14, to zero in 2019/20.