Great Yarmouth Borough Council is set to agree budget and share of council tax for 2020/21

The borough council sends out all council tax bills in the area, with the money collected supporting services provided by the borough council, Norfolk County Council, parish councils, the Police and Fire Services.

The borough council's Band D charge remains among the lowest of all district councils, yet the council is able to deliver an exciting range of services and projects, including seafront and town centre regeneration, infrastructure improvements, supporting investment and growth, waste and recycling collection, grounds maintenance, housing, community work, planning and licensing. 

Despite financial challenges across the public sector, the council is able to set a budget for 2020/21, while retaining the capacity to invest proactively in the economy and public priorities, thanks to the council's work to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible, and identify opportunities to generate additional income.

While the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2020/21 is a roll-forward of the 2019/20 settlement, the way local government is funded for future years is under review nationally. It is anticipated there will continue to be greater reliance on local income sources, with opportunities for new income linked to unlocking the borough's full potential for economic growth and making the most of the council's assets.

Critical to helping fund vital public services is the council's ongoing work with partners to enhance the borough as an attractive place for investment and inclusive growth, to improve key infrastructure, drive forward regeneration of the town centre and seafront, improve housing and support delivery of new homes in the right places.

The council continues to review proactively all of its service delivery, transforming and improving services, and to identify and deliver additional projects to operate as effectively and efficiently as possible, as well as maximising locally-generated income.

While this good work continues, the Local Government Finance Settlement assumes that this will continue to be supported through a greater contribution from local communities. In line with this, full council is recommended to increase the portion of council tax which supports the borough council's services by 3.1 per cent.

This equates to £5 extra on a Band D property over the course of a year. However, 60 per cent of local households are in the lowest two bands so would pay less than £3.90 extra over the course of the year for services provided by the borough council.

In addition, the most vulnerable people will continue to be protected through the Council Tax Support Scheme, which the council has decided to keep at a maximum of 91.5 per cent of council tax liability.