Improved efficiency allows Liberal Democrats to keep crucial services in budget for Lewes District

6.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 20th Feb 2008

The Liberal Democrats who run Lewes District Council say they have kept the government's axe at arm's length by putting a budget to today's meeting of the council that will keep most frontline services intact in the coming financial year, with some even improved.

With an expected shortfall of £562,000 caused by the government's cut in funding for concessionary bus passes, fears had grown for a number of services. But the council's impressive performance in beating government guidelines for improving efficiency means the most important services will continue largely unaffected in 2008-09 with only a modest rise in council tax.

The council's deputy leader Jon Freeman said: "This has been a horrendous year for us, and we had feared a lot worse, both in council tax rises and cuts in services. As it is, we will be pressing ahead with service improvements for the public and businesses, expanding our recycling scheme, improving street cleaning, expanding the CAB's welfare benefits service, and working towards providing more affordable housing. All this while still being able to provide the senior citizens' bus passes, something we fully support but which we're being forced by the government to pay an ever greater share of.

"We've never stopped listening to our residents and our businesses, and consequently we believe we're continuing to provide excellent value for money in a very harsh economic climate. It represents a great compliment to the partnership between responsible local politics and our highly competent staff."

If the budget is approved at today's full Council meeting, it will mean a 4.7% increase in the district council's part of overall council tax, well within the government's recommended maximum of 5%, giving a 16p per week rise for band D house owners. It is also likely to mean an overall increase of around 4.2% in council tax, once county council, police authority, and town and parish council payments are factored in.

Freeman added: "We're not expecting anyone to jump up and down with delight - it's still a grim picture, but we're making the best of it. For example, we'll be able to buy two new vehicles to expand our kerbside recycling scheme, which means within a year we should reach a level of 27% recycling across the district. Crazy though it is, 27% is the maximum amount of our waste the county council will let us recycle, so our next battle will be to get County Hall to do justice to the environment and allow us to recycle more."