Lib Dems launch alternative budget proposals

York’s Liberal Democrat councillors have put forward an alternative council budget for 2025/26 which would scrap a £600,000 cut to library services, proposed by the council’s ruling Labour Group. 

The draft council budget, and the Lib Dem alternative, will be debated and voted on by councillors at a meeting to be held on Thursday 27^th February.

The Lib Dems have been campaigning to protect York’s library services since the drastic funding cuts were first announced by Labour in February last year, with over 3,000 local residents signing a petition against the plans. Labour had proposed to spread the cuts over two years, but with no sign of any savings having been made in 2024/25, it now looks likely that the full £600,000 will need to be cut in one year, with a potentially devastating effect on library services. 

Lib Dem Group Leader Nigel Ayre commented: 

“We are proposing an alternative budget that gives power back to our local communities, protects York’s most vulnerable residents and invests into our public services to make York a better place to live and work.

“At a time when every other Council in England made cuts to their libraries, York under the Liberal Democrats managed to maintain and expand our library provision. In contrast, Labour seems hell bent on slashing York’s flagship library provision by almost 20% of its entire budget. There is a real risk that the proposed cut in funding will lead to library closures, staff redundancies and the mobile library ceasing its operations. That’s why the Liberal Democrats are continuing to oppose this shortsighted cut which would directly impact some of the most vulnerable in our city and will leave residents without access to vital community facilities.”

The Lib Dems’ alternative budget for 2025/26 sets out a number measures, including:

Frontline services and support for vulnerable residents

1. £370k additional funding from frontline neighbourhood services to help keep our streets and open spaces safe and well-maintained
2. Introduction of a Voluntary Tourist Tax to raise £150k to help fund street cleaning
3. £300k to fund additional discounts to Green Waste charges and support community waste disposal initiatives, to support low-income households that would otherwise struggle to afford a subscription
4. £200k to fund the reinstatement of older persons Day Clubs

Transport

1. £150k investment in a replacement for the Dial & Ride service which ended in December 2023
2. Establishing a £1 million Ward Highways Fund to support investment in local roads, footpath and cycle paths which reflects local priorities
3. Establishing a £425k Active Travel Fund to start delivering improvements to walking, wheeling and cycling networks across the city
4. £150k investment to support local bus services
5. Partially reversing Labour’s increase in parking charges to allow time for proper consultation with businesses and for the promised review of city centre parking provision to be completed

Efficiency

1. Seek to transfer responsibility for the delivery of Economic Development activities to the York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority
2. Driving better value from external council contracts and from internal Communications and IT operations 

Lib Dem Deputy Group Leader Paula Widdowson commented: “Our package of proposals is ambitious but deliverable. It puts investment where it can have most impact in terms of improving residents’ access to services such as green waste collection and bus services. A key focus in our alternative budget is tackling social isolation, which is why are investing in older persons Day Clubs and a replacement for the much-missed Dial & Ride service. We also calling for the council to get the ball rolling with the implementation of a Tourist Tax – which would be a voluntary scheme to begin with – to help free up resources to clean up our neighbourhoods.

“Some of our investment proposals are one-off for 2025/26, in anticipation of York getting a fairer deal from Government when the new long-term funding settlement is agreed next year. York is ranked last in terms of our core spending power of all the principal local authorities in the England, receiving £3,642 per person in funding from the Government compared to the national average of £4,310. We hope and expect that the Labour Government will correct this historic unfairness which will allow us to more adequately fund the services that local people rely on.”