Craven District Council’s Policy Committee has approved a fully funded and balanced Revenue Budget of £8.935m for 2022/23.

This, the last budget to be set by Craven District Council before being replaced by a new North Yorkshire unitary authority (North Yorkshire Council) in 2023, will need to be confirmed by full Council at a meeting on February 22. The setting of the 2023/24 budget will be the responsibility of the new unitary council..

The Policy Committee approved an increase of council tax at Band D by £5 a year to £187.21, or £3.60 per week - an increase of approximately 10p per week.

Council tax was frozen in Craven for five years in a row but has been increased by £5 a year in each of the last six budgets, as the Government  removed the Council Tax Freeze Grant and reduced the Revenue Support Grant down to zero from April 2019.

Councillor Richard Foster, Leader of the Council said: “It does feel poignant to be setting the last budget for this Council. I am very proud of the range of excellent services we provide for our residents, and all for just £3.60 per week for the average household in Craven.

“The last year has continued to be a challenging time for everyone but our staff have showed great resilience and flexibility in keeping services running especially during this latest Omicron Covid wave. We have continued to collect the bins, clean our streets, support our communities, pay out 1000s of Covid business grants and provide a huge range of other services including environmental health, planning, housing and homelessness support and now many staff are also involved in planning for the implementation of the new North Yorkshire authority.

“In the last year we have delivered some particularly exciting projects, the newly refurbished Skipton Town Hall and Craven Museum, and the new Langcliffe Quarry business park being just two of those. We have also continued to progress a number of projects to improve connectivity and economic prospects around the district.

We also have a duty to leave Craven and its finances in the best possible position before the new authority is created so we are pleased to have put forward a robust and balanced budget for our final year with minimal use of reserves.”

Craven District Council’s element of the Council Tax bill makes up around nine per cent of the total. In 2022/23 this will equate to £3.60 per week for district council services for an average Band D property.

Other authorities (the county council, police, fire service and parishes) set their own precept  to run their services and this is collected on their behalf by Craven District Council.

A total of 70 per cent of the council tax bill goes to North Yorkshire County Council, 14 per cent goes to the North Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner, four per cent goes to North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Services, three per cent goes to parish councils, and nine per cent goes to Craven District Council.