Gravesham council has voted to increase council tax by just under £5 a year as it sets out a £2.2 million stimulus package aimed at getting struggling businesses back on their feet.

The authority's budget for the coming year was approved last night as it confirmed a £2m hit to finances owing to the pandemic.

Approval for the Labour-run administration's proposals came after a long debate at yesterday's full council meeting during which the opposition Conservative group voted against the motion and saw its amendment to provide free town centre car parking defeated.

It came as a decision was taken to confirm a council tax hike for Gravesham residents for the coming year.

From April, it will mean those in the average property – band D – will see their share of council tax rise from £208.08 to £213.03, a rise of £4.95 or less than 10p a week. More than 60% of properties in Gravesham fall within band D or below.

However, the council also approved a £2.2m stimulus package to support the post-Covid recovery of local businesses.

Unveiling the plans, council leader Cllr John Burden (Lab), said: “Our local businesses have suffered terribly in the past year with many – particularly those in the hospitality and retail sectors – being required to close their doors for many months.

“The council has worked hard to distribute government support grants as quickly and efficiently as possible, and has kept paperwork and red tape for local business owners to a minimum. But that support will only have helped businesses through the immediate crisis.

“This £2.2m package will support the long-term recovery of the local economy and help our businesses get back on their feet as Covid restrictions are lifted."

Support for business will involve both short-term measures to help with the immediate recovery and longer term schemes.

This includes grants for businesses of "strategic importance" impacted by Covid-19 and relief for licence holders for taxis, licensed premises and members’ clubs to offset renewal of fees for the forthcoming financial year.

Adaptation grants will be tailored to help certain businesses respond to the changes brought on by the pandemic by, for example, helping them move to online trading.

Also included is a business start-up grant scheme, procurement workshops, and an incentive scheme to take up vacant outlets in Gravesend town centre.

To tackle high levels of youth unemployment, the council will strengthen its existing apprenticeship and work experience schemes and adopt the government‘s Kickstart youth employment programme, offering more than 30 roles for local young people.

Cllr Burden set out the council's response to the pandemic and the impact it has had on the authority's finances.

“The council, like others around the country was called on to put in place measures to support the most vulnerable in our society from day one of the first lockdown, including providing practical and emotional support to the clinically extremely vulnerable and ensuring the homeless were found safe places of refuge,“ he said.

“At the same time, we have maintained our essential front line services, such as household waste and recycling collections and emergency repairs to our tenants' homes.

“The expenditure needed to mobilise those support services at such short notice, coupled with significant loss of income from areas such as unpaid council tax and business rates, and loss of income from areas such as The Woodville, Gravesend Borough Market and car parking, sees us facing a loss of just over £2 million for the year, even allowing for grants from central government which do not come close to covering our outgoings and loss of revenue."

However, the council leader added the council found itself in a better position than many other local authorities.

Cllr Burden pointed out many other local authorities were presenting budgets that would see them having to make cuts to services.

The Labour leader said: “Last year, because of many years of sound and prudent financial management, I was able to present a balanced financial strategy for the next 10 years.

"From a balanced 10-year medium term financial strategy, we now find ourselves facing a £4.8 million negative impact on that between now and 2029/30."

“However, our essential services will not be affected by the losses we face as a result of the pandemic and we have a number of years in which we can work to minimise any impact.“

Cllr Burden went on to explain the council had made progress on last year's budget despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.

He said: “We have made good progress on building hundreds of new council-owned homes, with work starting on new sites and plans in place or being developed for even more.

“Planning permission has been granted for The Charter development in Gravesend town centre, with work expected to start on site imminently.

“And we are making good progress on the road to becoming a carbon neutral borough by 2030."

The Labour leader also the reaffirmed the council's commitment made in last year‘s budget to building a new leisure centre for the borough.

He said: “What the last year has shown beyond doubt is the importance of leisure facilities for the long-term physical and mental wellbeing of local people.

“We have backed GCLL, the leisure trust that runs our Cascades and Cygnets leisure centres, with around £1 million of financial support to see them through their long periods of closure during the various lockdowns and reduced facilities in the short time they have been allowed to be open.

But Gravesham's Conservatives voted against the council's budget last night and said it had got its "priorities shamefully wrong".

Opposition group leader Cllr Jordan Meade said: “The Labour Group can’t seem to find the money to freeze our council tax like Dartford or to support our town centre, but over the past year they have been all too happy to squander public funds on plastering the leader’s face across the front of the Civic Centre and paying expensive private consultants to advance their failed ambitions to develop a hotel in Greenwich."

"The Conservative Group voted against this budget as it has imposed maximum rises on residents and was absent of any innovative methods of supporting our local business community.”

The Woodlands ward councillor added: “Extraordinary times demand extraordinary help for a borough that has seen unemployment rise by more than 100% and nearly a quarter of all businesses either paused or ceased trading altogether.

The opposition group criticised tax and rent rises and also saw its amendment to provide free town centre car parking to stimulate footfall defeated.

Cllr Meade described the unwillingness to test the idea as "a slap in face" to its business community who he said had suffered terribly throughout the pandemic.

Responding to the council's decision to hike council tax, Cllr Burden said he accepted it would be "unwelcome for many" but added help was at hand.

He said: “We know that families across the borough face financial hardship as a result of the events of the past year and that any increase in bills is unwelcome for them.

“To help those who need it the most, we intend to ensure that residents eligible to receive Localised Support for Council Tax (LSCT) during the coming year will not have to pay the £4.95 rise in the Gravesham Borough Council element on this year‘s bill, by providing them with a £5 credit on their council tax account."

The Labour leader said the services needed to be paid for and decisions were being made against the backdrop of a decade of funding cuts from central government.

“Only about 12% of the council tax residents pay comes to Gravesham," he said. "The majority goes to Kent County Council, with other amounts going to Kent Fire and Rescue Service, Kent Police and parish councils.

“My message to all residents is, if you find yourself struggling to pay your council tax, don't bury your head in the sand and hope the problem will go away. The chances are it will only get worse.

“Talk to us, sooner rather than later. There are ways we can help you.“

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