Craven District Council’s Full Council 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, was confirmed by councillors at Tuesday evening’s Full Council meeting on February 23.

The setting of the 2023/24 budget will be the responsibility of the new unitary council.

The Council approved an increase of council tax at Band D by £5 a year in each of the last six budgets - an increase of just 10p per week.

Craven District Council provides a range of services to residents including bin collections, housing and homelessness services, licensing and planning services, environmental health, cleaner neighbourhoods, benefits and bereavement services.

It also runs Skipton Town Hall and Craven Leisure, and owns and manages Aireville Park

Speaking about the Council’s commitment to keeping the council tax consistently low, Councillor Richard Foster, Leader of the Council, said: “I am very proud of the range of excellent services the council has delivered for our residents, and all for just £3.60 per week for the average household in Craven.

“It’s a little poignant that this is the last budget we set, however, we have a balanced budget again in Craven. We’ve delivered a pretty good service and as an authority we’ve done well. We have a lot to be proud of.

“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 Enterprise Park. We have also continued to progress a number of projects to improve connectivity and economic prospects around the district. We hope we can keep the legacy projects going with the new authority.”

Councillor Patrick Mulligan, the Council’s Lead Member for Financial Resilience, added: “I’m very pleased we have a balanced budget for the 2022/23 financial year. The last year has been a challenging time for everyone due to Covid, however, I am proud to say we have continued to deliver impressive projects in Craven. And I feel to increase the council tax by just £5 per annum is very reasonable.”

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 and 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.