Crawley Residents To Face April Council Tax Rise

Friday, 7 February 2025 13:28

By Karen Dunn LDR

Council tax in Crawley is set to rise by 2.99% from April.

The increase, which will take the borough council’s portion of a Band D bill from £232.10 to £239.04, was supported by the cabinet on Wednesday (February 5).

It will be put to a meeting of the full council on February 26 for final approval.

The council has had to find £2.4m of savings in order to balance the budget. This has include £792,000 of service cuts.

They include reducing funding to Crawley Museum by £24,000 over two years, changing the standard of service delivered by Neighbourhood

Services to save £185,000, and the declassification of the outreach play service to save £94,000.

Leader Michael Jones said:

“This is one of the most difficult budgets I’ve ever known.”

He added:

“We have had to make some very difficult decisions in order to set a balanced budget this year and we know that some of them will have an impact on the services that we offer.

“We have prioritised ways to generate income through our commercial buildings and assets and increased the deterrent for those who choose to litter or fly-tip.”

A four-week public consultation was held in December and the beginning of January to garner the views of residents about the council’s priorities for the year ahead.

It received more than 600 responses, with public safety and anti-social behaviour topping the lists of concerns and priorities, while arts and culture were deemed the least important, alongside the need to promote understanding between the town’s different communities.

Mr Jones said:

“Wherever possible we have protected services for vulnerable people and delivered on what we heard in the consultation.

"We have protected the services that our residents valued, such as public protection and keeping Crawley looking the way we expect.”

An increase in fees and charges will also be suggested to the full council.

These include a 10% increase in the cost of green garden waste bins, which will bring in £76,000; 10% more for the use of community centres, generating £64,000; 15% more for cemeteries, bringing in £30,000, and a 5% increase in taxi licensing fees, bringing in £18,000.

Conservative leader Duncan Crow expressed ‘a little bit of sympathy’ for the council.

But he questioned the plan to generate an estimated £388,000 through a car parking strategy which aims to ‘ensure the efficient usage of free and paid for parking provision in the town, including greater paid for parking’.

Pointing out that this would add up to more than £1,000 a day, every day of the year, he said:

“I’ll be fascinated to see how that’s going to be generated for this council.”