East Cambridgeshire District Council has announced it will be freezing its element of Council Tax again in 2023/2024 for the tenth year running.

It is the only district, county or unitary authority still in operation in the country not to have put up bills during this time.

Despite the uncertain economy and rising interest rates the Council has announced it also has a balanced budget for the next 2 years.

The announcements were made during a meeting of the Full Council on 21 February 2023.

The amount residents pay to the District Council is less than 8% of the total bill. It means an average Band D property will pay £142.14 to the District Council, the same as it was ten years ago.

The remainder is divided between Cambridgeshire County Council, parish or town councils, the emergency services and the Combined Authority.

Councillor Anna Bailey, leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “I am extremely proud of the fact that East Cambs is the only district, county or unitary council in the country to have been able to freeze its portion of the Council Tax bill for the past ten years. This is at a time when many other local authorities are increasing theirs by the maximum amount possible.

“Household costs are rising sharply, and as a Council, we want to do whatever we can to support our residents. We appreciate freezing our portion of Council Tax is a modest gesture, but we hope residents appreciate that we really do have their best interests at heart.”

As well as a freeze in Council Tax, the balanced budget takes into account a spend of £2.8 million which will include a new fleet of ten waste recycling vehicles which will run on hydro treated vegetable oil (HVO), helping the Council significantly reduce its carbon emissions.

The Council is also setting aside funds for black wheelie bins which together with other changes coming from new legislation will improve our recycling rate even further. East Cambridgeshire District Council already has the highest recycling rate in the county.

Further pots of money will go towards supporting the upgrade of the A14 and buying new wheeled bins to support new housing growth in the district.

The Council is also planning to make further payments against the existing call-off loan facility to East Cambridgeshire Trading Company, the Council’s trading arm which runs its affordable and new housing development company Palace Green Homes, by £1.7 million. Interest it earns on these loans helps fund the Council’s Surplus Savings reserve which in turn means the Council doesn’t have to borrow money externally and keeps costs low for residents. To date the Council’s trading companies have contributed more than £3.6 million to the Council.

Councillor Bailey added: “We have always prided ourselves on being a forward-thinking Council that is not afraid to explore new ideas when it comes to bringing in new funds and balancing our books. It’s inevitable that with the cost of living crisis this is challenging but whereas many other local authorities are struggling to make ends meet now and relying on external borrowing and raising Council Tax we are doing more than holding our own and we have time to come up with new options for generating income and saving money. Ten years of Council Tax freezes show we have a strong record of doing exactly this.”