RESIDENTS will see an increase to their council tax after budget proposals were approved by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

During a near 90-minute debate at a full council meeting on Thursday, 28 February, councillors took the decision to adopt the planned budget proposals.

It will see residents pay an extra £5 to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council for a Band D property for the 2019/2020 year.

The budget will also see £394,700 carried forward from the existing budget to the newly-adopted one.

However, despite the budget being approved 31 votes to 24, not all members were happy with the proposal put forward.

Leader of the Basingstoke Labour Party, Cllr Paul Harvey, said that the people of Basingstoke “deserve so much more.”

Cllr Harvey said: “This council plan reflects a lack of ambition, a lack of aspiration for Basingstoke and Deane.

“It’s tinkering around the edges without fundamentally addressing the issues people face.”

Cllr Harvey added that due to a number of funding cuts from Hampshire County Council it has led to “nearly a fifth of children in Basingstoke living in poverty.”

He added: “There is a huge budget hole, the people most vulnerable in our community are being hardest hit yet again.”

Leader of the borough council, Cllr Clive Sanders, said the budget “safeguards our resilience for the security of our residents.”

Cllr Sanders said: “This budget lays down a firm foundation for the way forward. A way forward that contains much ambition because Basingstoke and Deane deserves to have ambition, because it has the capacity and strength to make that ambition realistically achievable for the long term benefit of all who live here.”

This was echoed by Sherborne St. John ward councillor Tristan Robinson who said if the opposition were not happy with the proposals rather than “moaning” they should provide an alternative budget.

Cabinet member for communities and community safety, Cllr Simon Bound, added the budget “continues to put our residents at the top of our priorities.”

He said: “This budget sets out an investment of a minimum £2.2m in addition to the £5.8m already spent. On top of these we have made provision for £12m worth of investment in a wide range of community projects over the next four years.”

Leader of the Basingstoke Liberal Democrat Party, Cllr Gavin James, raised concerns on the amount of council money being spent on external consultants, claiming in the last year £1 million had been spent on external legal advice.

Cllr James said: “The borough is a great place to live and work, but we also have a weakness and it is this weakness which wrote this budget.”

Cllr Sanders added: “We will spend nearly £900k on buses, though we are not the transport authority. We will support local art and culture by over £2.8 million. And put a further £3.5 million into sports and leisure facilities.

“We will pump another £900k into community safety for our own community patrol team to support the police in keeping the borough a safe place to live.

“All things we could not afford to do without the revenue income from reserves and careful control of our own costs."