Cllr Ray Georgeson at Policy & Resources Committee on 23rd January proposed a resolution on the Budget for the coming year – 2017/2018.

The resolution asked the Committee to approve a budget of £513,008 for 2017/18 of which £407,627 is required to be precepted by Leeds City Council.

“This Budget continues the work started with last year’s Budget and is again firmly focused on investing in Otley and our community.

It supports the objectives for the town that the Liberal Democrats laid out in our Vision for Otley manifesto upon which we were elected in May 2015.   These were set out in four key themes of:

• Promoting local trade and tourism;
• Improving our environment;
• Leading healthy lives and promoting well-being;
• Streamlining council governance and administration.

Our Budget proposals again address all these themes.

The Budget:

• Retains the approach of controlling the amount spent on council administration through good housekeeping, with the administration budget capped at £183,000 within which our officers have identified some further savings;
• Further increases the amount allocated for the direct benefit of the Otley community – through maintaining the £23,000 funding available in the Consolidated Community Fund, maintaining the £40,000 provision for the Investing in Otley Fund that will support investment in community infrastructure as well as lever in additional funds from outside Otley (for which we expect to see applications for this year), provides £6,000 for a new community IT project at the Weston Lane Youth Centre, and allocates an additional £10,000 to repair the Outdoor Gym in Wharfemeadows Park so it can be used properly again;
• Maintains and extends our environmental commitments, including more work on the Gallows Hill management plan, investing in follow-up projects on the Cycling Strategy to promote the use of safer cycling routes and set up a ‘bike library’ , investing in follow-up to the Community Renewable Energy study likely to include providing energy advice aimed primarily to benefit the estimated 11% of households in fuel poverty, maintaining our support for Otley in Bloom and the Wharfedale Greenway, and providing a contribution to make sure that completing the Ashfield 20mph zone is delivered;
• Invests further in our environment (with the added benefit of improving how we look for the benefit of visitors and residents) by launching a new supplementary Street Cleansing service (supported by Otley BID funding) to tackle the build-up of dirt and detritus in the town centre, alongside new initiatives to tackle cigarette litter which may include a cigarette butt recycling scheme in partnership with Terracycle and interested Otley pubs. The scheme will be complementary to Leeds’s existing litter clearance work and not a replacement of the existing services.
• Invests significantly in our commitments to supporting Trade and Tourism and increasing visitor numbers. Several major projects jointly supported with funding from Otley BID and Otley Town Partnership are proposed – to more effectively market the town’s attractions to a wider audience, create a new ‘destination app’ to help visitors find what they need when they are here, alongside a refresh of the town’s marketing and visitor literature.  Trade and Tourism will also be sponsoring established major events that bring in visitors as well as new ones should they emerge.  We will also investigate the option of offering temporary toilets for the summer months in Wharfemeadows Park as an improvement to the current situation.  All these visitor-related projects amount to a major investment that we expect will reap rewards in years to come, especially alongside our physical environmental improvements and the generally positive approach taken by the town’s shops, pubs and cafes and the spirit of teamwork we have with Otley BID, Otley Chamber and Otley Town Partnership.

In addition to these major investments, we are maintaining the commitments already established – for example, £20,000 to the Christmas Lights; over £14,000 to the Citizens Advice Bureau service (this is the third year of the three year commitment, and we remain very supportive of the service but will want to talk to CAB this year about how best to provide the service in the future) and approximately net £50,000 commitment to the maintenance of our staffed town centre toilets and £35,000 for the full annual cost of our current offices.  We also this year need to make adequate provision in reserves for future Town Council elections, the future cost of which has to be fully borne by us. Nearly £9,000 is earmarked this year for that purpose.

This year, I am delighted to say that some support for new projects – notably in Tourism and Street Cleansing – has come from Otley BID and Otley Town Partnership and this project support, together with our reduced grant from Leeds City Council and a conservative estimate again for toilet income (£12,000) provides the Town Council with just over £60,000.

I’d like to say an extra word about reserves and the Investing in Otley Fund.  We made it clear last year that the allocation of £40,000, repeated this year, is a provision in reserves for future interest payments should the Town Council commit to loans in support of significant community infrastructure investment.  No applications came forward this year – which was not too surprising, as large projects can take time to develop – but we hope to see one or two interesting proposals come forward this year and need to be ready to support them if they are high quality and come with match funding.  This year, we are retaining the provision but utilising the £40,000 already held in reserves to accelerate several of the investment projects I have outlined – such as Street Cleansing, the Outdoor Gym, Ashfield 20mph, Weston Lane Community IT, Bandstand feasibility, Energy Project and Tourism Initiatives.  We believe this represents an effective use of this investment reserve on valuable projects.

Beyond the £40,000 Investing in Otley Fund reserve, the Town Council’s reserves position remains solid.  General Reserves stand at just under £72,000 representing around three months of running costs, which is within stated guidelines for Town and Parish Councils.  It would not be prudent to diminish this General Reserve, save for genuine emergencies and we would not intend to do so.

Therefore, in order to meet the pre-existing commitments of the Town Council and do more of the things that the community want – around our town centre, environment, community investment, quality of life, visitor attraction and trading prospects – again we see the need to take on more of this activity ourselves with our local partners rather than wait in hope for others to do it for us.

It means we have established a total budget requirement for the year of £513,008 of which £62,381 will come from grants and income.  It means that the requirement remaining for the Precept is a total of £407,627 – this represents an increase of £11.51 a year for a Band D property, making a total Band D charge £82.70.  While this as a percentage increase is 16.2%, the cost for a Band D property represents 96p per month increase for which we will deliver all the pre-existing commitments and new community projects described.

I believe that the combination of reducing administration costs and good housekeeping together with our proposed significant investments in the Otley community have again delivered a balanced and ambitious proposed Budget which I hope we can all support. “

Cllr Ray Georgeson, Chair of Otley Town Council

23rd January 2017