A new year means a new budget for local authorities, and in a proactive move, Rother District Council (RDC) has expressed their desire to hear from as many residents as possible, with their views on the proposed 2022/23 budget.
Councillor Kevin Dixon, cabinet member for finance and performance management at RDC, spoke to Rye News, to outline the aims for the next financial year
The new year sees the start of the budget setting process and, like many councils up and down the country, Rother District Council faces the challenge of meeting increasing demand on services with limited resources.
To help us ensure the priorities of the council reflect our residents’, we’ve launched our annual budget and council tax consultation in which we are asking residents to share their views.
Our communities depend on vital services such as waste collection, street cleaning and leisure facilities, and the council also provides many statutory services such as housing benefit administration, council tax collection, public health, licensing and planning enforcement.
Unfortunately, the cost of delivering these in the current financial climate is becoming ever more expensive. In addition, we are restricted by government as to the amount by which we can raise council tax and these two factors taken together mean we are faced with some difficult choices to ensure we deliver a balanced budget and continue to provide the services our residents rely upon.
We also want to build on what the council has already achieved to ensure we are in the best position to react to future challenges and do the best for the district.
In 2022/23 we plan to work to:
- Deliver a plan to ensure we are carbon neutral by 2030
- Achieve financial stability
- Enable the construction of 400 new affordable homes to rent
- Reduce the housing waiting list
- Create a resident-focused organisation
- Build a fairer society by, for example, developing an anti-poverty strategy
- Develop the local economy by providing new employment space
We are asking residents to share their views on our priorities and help councillors make the best decisions for the district, meet our financial challenges and make Rother an even better place to live.
I would encourage as many people as possible to give their views during the consultation, which ends on January 24.
To take part visit www.rother.gov.uk/consultations/budget-consultation/
Image Credits: Chris Lawson / Rye News .
Rother District Council are giving their excuses for raising the Counil Tax again, squeezing the last halfpenny out of the local residents to try and balance their books.
I have a suggestion – in the last financial year £485,890 was handed over to those who run the De La Warr Pavilion. A similar amount has been handed over annually for the last several years. Next year this will rise to £488,500 – for what?
The residents of Eastern Rother benefit very little from this largesse, all residents would benefit from scrapping this generosity displayed by RDC with other people’s money.
Why doesn’t the RDC fund the more important needs like road cleaning ,I have seen lots of the public doing jobs that the council should be doing (IE picking up rubbish) time and time again, nearly £500 grand go to the De LA Warr Pavilion seems a bit excessive to me to say the least.
One must agree with Rod Came, time the loss making del a warr pavilion stood on its own two feet,if they cannot make this venue pay for itself,why have the people of Rother got to keep subsidising this loss making venue in Bexhill,if this was in Rye or Battle it would have been closed years ago. Time for Rother district council too stop throwing tax payers money at this white Elephant.
It doesn’t take much digging to see where Rother’s priorities are. From 2014 – 2021 Rother gave £490,000 (plus another £47,355 for maintenance) annually to the De La Warr Pavilion. They also gave DLWP £350,000 ’emergency funding’ in June 2020.
Meanwhile in Rye we still await repairs to the Landgate…
The ludicrous annual subsidy for the DLWP approx £500,000 p.a. must be ended.
Its always been recognised as a concrete rot box with huge ongoing maintenance costs.
For the sake of Rother Rate Payers sell it.
I’m in agreement with the complaints about the subsidy for the DLWP and I’m outraged that money isn’t allocated to repairing the Landgate in Rye. However, I disagree that the DLWP should be sold off as it’s an excellent centre for the arts and live music.
We want both, Rye to get more funding particularly to repair the Landgate but keep the DLWP open and support the arts in our area.
I agree with Steve, we need the DLWP, My wife and I went to see Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel two weeks ago and they were absolutely brilliant, No sell off please!!
If the DWLP were to be run as a business and make a profit however small, there would be no need for taxpayer’s money to be injected annually to keep it afloat. Unfortunately this is not the case and coupled with the money that has been spent on Bexhill seafront, Edgerton Park and now the proposed rejuvenation of Bexhill town centre some council tax payers from the rest of the District are becoming restless and questioning why improvements are not being made to their locale.
As Rother District Council are again pleading poverty and wanting to increase the tax burden on people who themselves are not receivng any increase in their income, then it is time for RDC to take a look at their expenditure and to justify that to the electorate.