Labour has passed a balanced budget for the next three years at Full Council last night in Kingswood.

Highlights include:

• An extra £1,055,000 for Children’s Services for 2024/25 to continue progress since the Improvement Notice from Ofsted was lifted

• Free School Meal vouchers for a week at Easter and a week of Summer, helping roughly 6,500 children

• Debt and benefits advice to an additional 680 complex cases, expected to secure an additional £2.5m in financial outcomes for residents

• A pilot scheme to help landlords reach current the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) for their properties

• A pilot scheme to expand youth services

• Energy efficiency measures such as radiator panels, draught proofing, LED lightbulbs, kettles, and slow cookers for eligible residents

• Support for Community Welcome Spaces, food banks, and community pantries will continue

• 1,000 warm packs to help people through Winter

“In years to come people will look back to the choices we made and they will see those who we chose to prioritise,” said Labour Group Leader and Council Co-Leader Ian Boulton during the climax of his budget speech:

Before that, he reminded the chamber that our council gets “millions of pounds less now than we did ten years ago” from central government:

He also addressed questions about parking charges head on. When the Conservatives were in power they put a £5m income generation target in the budget, to be made over three years. Since taking office we’ve found out the £5m was largely made up of introducing parking charges: