Published: 23 February 2024

From: Business and economy

A meeting of Crawley Borough Council on Wednesday evening approved the budget for 2024-25.

It includes a Council Tax increase of 2.99 per cent for what is paid to the borough. This equates to a £6.76 annual increase for a band D property, just 13p per week.

Rents on council-managed homes will increase by 7.7 per cent, as recommended by the government, and service charges will increase to reflect cost rises. 

About £1.07 million will be taken from the reserves to maintain a balanced budget, a budget which includes a projected £5.25 million bill for temporary accommodation for people made homeless. The council’s caseload has been mostly caused by no-fault evictions of families from privately rented homes, coupled with underfunding of Housing Benefit by government.

I’m pleased we have been able to set a budget which maintains services despite the limited additional resources we have gained from government to provide everything they ask of us. I will continue to press government for more realistic funding of Crawley Borough Council and ensure we get maximum value for every penny we spend.

Councillor Michael Jones

Leader of the council

Crawley Borough Council

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