The budget that funds north Oxfordshire’s waste collections, housing and planning services has been agreed, setting key public services on a firm footing.

At a full council meeting on Monday, February 27, Cherwell District Council adopted its 2023/2024 budget, protecting frontline services while making £1.0m of savings from its £28.2m revenue budget.

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Separately, the capital element of the budget confirms some significant investments, including £0.5m to further reduce the council’s carbon emissions.

Councillor Adam Nell, Portfolio Holder for Finance, said: “Councils everywhere face a difficult financial picture. But thanks to the expertise we have at Cherwell we’re adapting to that and have delivered a really good result for our residents.

“We are realistic about the challenges we face but our goal has always been to protect the frontline services that our residents rely on.

“By putting in place some well-thought out changes to the way we deliver some of our services and increasing our income in some areas, we’ve achieved just that.”

Cherwell District Council’s element of the council tax for the coming year has also been set, with a £5 per year increase for the average band D property.

Cherwell keeps just 6.62 per cent of the council tax it collects. The rest goes to Oxfordshire County Council (77.32 per cent), the Police and Crime Commissioner (11.43 per cent) and the town and parish councils (4.63 per cent).

Mr Nell added: “The council’s separate capital budget also delivers capital investments across the district totalling £35.9m. A large proportion of this spending is funded by grants from central government.”

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1