Devon County Council budget confirmed

Council tax to rise by 4.99%

A bid to trigger a referendum to raise £29 million extra in council tax beyond the already planned rise for a host of road repairs across Devon has failed as the county’s biggest council confirmed its budget.

A motion put to the full chamber at Devon County Council proposed the extra cash as part of aspirations to bolster responsive and emergency pothole repairs, road defects, drainage maintenance and other highway-related schemes.

But the request – put forward by Councillor Paul Hayward (Independent, Axminster) – would have meant residents being asked to agree to a more than 5 per cent hike in council tax above the 4.99 per cent Devon was set to ask for.

The 4.99 per cent number is significant, because it is the legal limit by which a council such as Devon, which has responsibility for adult social care, can raise council tax by each year.

Any council wishing to increase council tax by more is obliged to hold a referendum, whereby residents could vote for or against the proposal.

The call for the extra funding came even as Devon confirmed earlier this month that highways would receive an additional £15 million of additional capital investment in 2026/27 to target preventative maintenance, resurfacing and patching.

Furthermore, the administration had identified £4 million in additional revenue funding for highway drainage improvements, gully clearance, vegetation management and other preventative work.

In the end, only four members voted for Cllr Hayward’s proposal, with 44 against and 10 abstentions, of which included Green member Councillor Andy Ketchin (St David’s & Haven Banks) who was named as the seconder in council papers.

Councillor Hayward said the council needed to “make sure that as an authority we get every possible penny’s worth of value” from the money it gets in.

He claimed that just like 58p of vehicle fuel charges go to the Treasury, some of council taxpayers’ money went to “the private sector that is profiting from children’s and adult’s social care”.

He added that he wanted the chairs of each highways committee across Devon to collaborate with the highways cabinet member, Councillor Dan Thomas (Liberal Democrat), South Brent) to look at highways spending.

“The system isn’t working but I’m happy to liaise with Cllr Thomas to make sure it does,” he said.

Councillor Julian Brazil (Liberal Democrat, Kingsbridge), the leader of the council, said extra money had already been directed towards highways as part of the proposed budget.

His cabinet colleague, Councillor James Buczkowski (Liberal Democrat, Cullompton) the cabinet member for finance who has worked with officers to draw up the budget for the forthcoming financial year, reiterated that performance and delivery were “central to how we operate”, adding that: “It’s not about spending more but spending well.

He spoke against asking Devon’s residents for a 10 per cent hike in their council tax in a single year, stating he believed council tax to be “not progressive”.

“It is not equitable, and it places a proportionally heavy burden on those with the least financial flexibility,” he said.

Cllr Buzkowski also noted that such a rise would not be a one-off because it would become “part of the base”.

“It would permanently increase the council tax burden for every household in Devon,” he said.

“We’re talking about locking in a structurally higher council tax indefinitely.”

He added that the expected cost of a referendum would be £2.5 million, adding: “I don’t think there has been a successful council tax referendum.”

Both Councillors Andrew Leadbetter (Wearside and Topsham), the leader of the Conservative group, and Councillor Michael Fife Cook (Yelverton Rural), leader of the Reform group, expressed their opposition to the bid to raise council tax by even more.

“Cllr Hayward is right in that most of us are deluged with emails about potholes but I don’t think it is fair to increase the burden even further on the general public,” he said.

“Maybe there is another way, like a holiday tax as they have in France that could be geared towards repairing the roads.

“I’m not against what you are proposing, but [I am against] the way we always seem to put our hands in parishioners’ pockets.”

Cllr Leadbetter said he was “not in favour or putting council tax up even more” and so wouldn’t be supporting the motion.

Cllr Buczkowski reiterated the promise to bolster reserves, the levels of which he said external auditors had previously “raised concerns about”. The council is expecting to add £18 million to its reserves in the forthcoming financial year, taking total general earmarked reserves to £139 million.