Hike in Fareham council tax bill to pay for services agreed in tense and dramatic meeting

In the near three-hour full borough council meeting where the budget was approved, two last-minute changes proposed by the Liberal Democrats were slammed as reckless, rubbish and barmy by the ruling Conservative administration.

Council leader Councillor Seán Woodward said the authority had been able to present a balanced budget – helped by using around £400,000 from reserves – and households’ bills for the borough council will still be among the lowest in England. He said the plan had been discussed with officers, scrutinised and approved by the executive committee over the last few months – but that didn’t stop the Liberal Democrats from arguing their case.

Taxpayers in Band D will see an increase of 2.99 per cent, the maximum allowed without a referendum, which is £5.40 per week and £185.86 for the year. For 2024/25 a Band D taxpaying Fareham Borough Council resident, their council tax bills are set to be £2,063.40, with £185.86 going to the borough council. The rest of the bill will likely be made up of £1,533.24 to Hampshire County Council, £261.46 to the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner and £82.84 to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority. Overall, council tax in Band D property is set to go up by 4.6 per cent from the 2023/24 figures.

Cllr Woodward said: ”Of course, Fareham has most properties in Band C and the council tax will be £165.21 which is an increase of just over a penny a day for our services.”

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The borough council expects to raise more than £8 million through council tax in the coming financial year. This will fund day-to-day services like bin collections, but also contribute to the council’s capital plans for the next five years. The £59m programme includes spending £17m on Fareham Live, £15m on Fareham Shopping Centre, £2m on Osborn multi-storey car park, £6m on Daedalus projects, £4m on housing grants, £3m on its vehicles programme and £1m on leisure schemes. Council garage fees will also rise by 7.5 per cent, or £1.10 per week, and house rents by the maximum 7.7 per cent to £120.40 per week.

The two amendments proposed at the last minute by Councillor Chrissie Bainbridge (Lib Dems, Portchester East) were for employing two housing officers for two years, at an estimated cost of £121,200 per year, and putting solar panels on the new surface car park at Osborne Road. That would cost £500,000, an idea previously dismissed.

Cllr Woodward said he was disappointed in Cllr Bainbridge’s amendments, branding them “reckless” and “not the way to do it”. They were also criticised as being barmy and rubbish. Cllr Bainbridge said she was new and hadn’t meant to cause this kind of upset. To which, Cllr Woodward pointed out that fellow councillor Katrina Trott (Lib Dems, Fareham East) had been in post for years and knew the process.

Councillor Susan Walker (Con, Portchester West) said that the ideas may be good ones but they have not been through officers, executive and scrutiny so she couldn’t support the amendments. Cllr David Foot (Con,Fareham North West) said that if the officers believed in the need for new housing officers then they would have heard about it. He was interested in where the idea had come from but it was fundamentally flawed. He said: “It is inappropriate to give this information with five minutes to discuss it.”