BUILDING closures and sales, new car parking charges, service and staffing reductions and price increases are among wide-ranging changes being proposed as Leeds City Council sets out its annual budget plans for next year.
The council this week published its initial budget proposals for 2024/25 which will be discussed by senior councillors at the executive board meeting at Civic Hall on Wednesday 13 December.
The proposals identify ways to save a further £58.4million in the year ahead alongside £7.4m of already agreed savings to deliver the required balanced budget.
The key elements proposed include:
* Council tax to increase by 4.99 per cent (with two per cent of this dedicated to support adult social care funding)
* To explore options to reduce opening hours at community hubs and libraries across the city
* Reviews of fees and charges for adult social care in Leeds
* Review of fees and pricing for the hiring of community centres in Leeds
* Charging proposed to be introduced at car parks including Netherfield Road in Guiseley and Fink Hill in Horsforth, on top of consultations already held about parking charges at Golden Acre Park and Otley Chevin Forest Park
* Pudsey Civic Hall which operates at a loss to be closed and potentially made available for sale
* Bulky waste removal charges to remain free for each household’s first collection and then be reintroduced for more than one collection in the same year
* Council staffing levels to reduce by up to 750 full-time equivalent posts by the end of the 2024/25 financial year (the council currently has approximately 3,440 fewer staff than it did in 2010) with ongoing trade union consultation to avoid compulsory redundancies
Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor James Lewis said: “We know some of the proposals we have set out today will be unpopular as they will have a challenging impact on people’s lives.
“As is increasingly being seen around the country, councils have only very difficult choices left to use to balance their budgets, meet the needs of residents and not risk being driven to the point of financial distress. Local government cannot continue in this way, it simply isn’t workable.
“In the immediate short-term, we call on the government to use the upcoming finance settlement to provide the urgent help all councils clearly need, especially in the face of the rising costs and demand in children’s services to help support and protect our most vulnerable children and young people.”
The council said the position in Leeds reflects the impact of funding reductions, cost increases and demand pressures for council services since 2010. Between 2010 and the end of 2024/25, the council will have had to deliver savings totalling £795million in that period.
The difficulty of the financial position is further shown by an overspend of £35.3million for the current financial year, while there is also a projected expectation to save a further £60.6m in 2025/26 and £46.1m in 2026/27.
Conservative Councillor for the Guiseley and Rawdon ward, Paul Alderson, responded by calling for the proposed car parking charges to be scrapped.
He said: “I am incredibly disappointed to learn of these proposed parking charges. The Council refer to Netherfield Road car park as being in a district centre location, categorising it as a lower risk for traffic displacement. I am somewhat stunned by this and ask if the Council have made a mistake in their analysis of the car park’s location.
“ I have no doubt this will create anti-social parking problems for the adjacent residential communities all along Netherfield Road as drivers will look to avoid charges by parking in the local streets.
“Netherfield Road car park is predominantly used as a commuter car park for those travelling onwards from Guiseley Station. It seems odd to target those who are actually doing their part to reduce car congestion in the city centre by making use of public transport.
“For someone working full-time in the centre of Leeds, it could be as much as an extra £600 per year to get to work, on top of public transport charges. If the Council think that introducing parking charges will help their ambition to increase patronage on public transport in Leeds, then they are sadly mistaken.
“There are already other charges being proposed at the Otley Chevin car parks too. These proposals need to stop now – Guiseley and Rawdon residents are not a cash cow.”
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