Tewkesbury council tax bill remains one of the lowest as 3.34 hike is approved

Residents in Tewkesbury will be charged 3.34 per cent more in council tax for Borough services from April which remains one of the lowest bills in the country.

Tewkesbury Borough Council has approved its net budget of almost £14m for the upcoming financial year.

The proposals mean band D properties will see the charge for Borough Council services rise by £5 to £154.36 per year.

The total bill for households will be much higher as it will include Gloucestershire County Council, police and parish council tax where applicable.

Finance and asset management lead member Stewart Dove (Churchdown St John’s) presented the budget at last night’s (February 24) meeting.

He said there was a clear expectation that councils should continue to only raise their council tax by a maximum of £5 or 2.99 per cent.

“Over the last six months or so the picture has been shifting with the government giving the sector some mixed messages about the settlement for 2026/27,” he said.

“As such the final outcomes are slightly better than feared but not as generous as once suggested.”

He said it was clear rural district councils such as Tewkesbury are not a priority with metropolitan unitary authorities “seemingly getting more of the pie once again”.

Council leader Richard Stanley (LD, Cleeve West) thanked officers for their efforts and said he was proud to lead an authority that was financially secure and stable.

“We must never take that for granted,” he said.

Reform UK Councillor Graham Bocking (Northway) proposed freezing the council tax and for reserves to be used to cover the funding gap.

This was seconded by Councillor Mike Sztymiak (I, Tewkesbury North and Twyning).

“This council has voted to cut public services,” he said. “You may not acknowledge it as such maybe but it has voted to cut the grass cutting by around £50,000.

“Yet on the other hand it is increasing its reserves by about £1m plus.”

Green Party Councillor Matt Dimond-Brown (Tewkesbury South) said the amendment posed a real risk the council could be “very dishonest” with residents.

He said: “We’ve been the seventh or ninth lowest in the country for a number of years and have only been able to raise our council tax at a set amount at times when inflation was significantly greater than that.”

He said some of the council’s statutory services were starting to creak as a result of the limited money available to pay for them.

“There’s a real risk some grandstanding that is going to be done for political purposes is actually being dishonest,” he said.

“We are risking being dishonest with residents. We should have a council that is delivering good quality services in a fair and proper way.

“I will therefore not be voting for the amendment.”

Deputy leader Sarah Hands (LD, Innsworth) echoed these concerns. She said the Borough Council’s tax bill is around £90 less than the average.

“It is disingenuous to tell the public that we are saving them something now when actually that pain is going to be worse down the line,” she said.

Cllr Hands also described the amendment as populist.

“For five years until 2023, the councillor who recommended his amendment was in the administration,” she said.

“For those five years every single year the budget went up by £5 a year. Every single year, the councillor voted for that rise.”

Conservative Councillor Jim Mason (Winchcombe) said keeping the council tax down and giving some back more than 20 years ago was “sheer folly”.

“We struggled,” he said. “When other districts wanted partnerships and we had to put money up we struggled.

“We will never catch up. It’s impossible. Unless we go into a unitary authority.”

He said he could not support the amendment which was defeated by 27 votes to five.

The budget was ultimately approved the original budget by 27 votes in favour, four against and one abstention.