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Mayor sees budget voted through on second attempt

Martin HeathBedfordshire political reporter
Martin Heath/BBC Tom Wootton with white hair and beard smiling at the camera and wearing a blue jacket, white shirt and blue tie. He is standing in front of a wooden wall hanging on which are a portrait of the King, and a union flag.Martin Heath/BBC
The mayor, Tom Wootton, said there had to be "work behind the scenes" to get the budget through

The Conservative elected mayor of Bedford says he is "really excited" after seeing his budget voted through on the second attempt.

Some changes had been made in Tom Wootton's financial plans following cross-party discussions.

It means that council tax in the borough will rise by just under 5%, with an average band D house paying £95.59 extra.

The Liberal Democrat opposition leader, Henry Vann, said he was "deeply worried about the future for Bedford".

Councils are legally required to put together a balanced budget, but the mayor's plans were voted down at a meeting a fortnight ago.

Discussions had taken place over the last two weeks with councillors from all parties, resulting in some changes to the proposals.

Plans to cut the cost of the maintenance of average speed cameras and reduce councillors' allowances were scrapped.

The provision of two anti-social behaviour officers, at a cost of £96,000, was added to the budget along with an "investment" of £30,000 for cleaning the town centre and its toilet facilities on Sundays.

Martin Heath/BBC Henry Vann with short dark hair wearing glasses, a blue jacket, white shirt and grey tie, standing in a council chamber made up of wooden desks with seats behind, each bearing a microphone on a small plastic unit. A portrait of the King and two union flags can be seen on the wall in the background.Martin Heath/BBC
Liberal Democrat leader Henry Vann said it was "ludicrous" to add more spending to the budget

Councillors across the political divide said they welcomed being involved in budget discussions, although they felt the dialogue should have happened earlier.

The Liberal Democrats voted against the budget last time and did not change their stance on Wednesday.

Their leader, Henry Vann, said: "The ludicrous thing is for the budget that was brought back actually had changes that added another £340,000 of spending so I'm deeply worried about the future for Bedford."

Martin Heath/BBC Lucy Bywater with medium-length blonde hair smiling at the camera and wearing a grey sweater and blue top, plus black and orange necklace. She is sitting in a corridor with grey carpet and white walls. There are wooden tables along the walls.Martin Heath/BBC
Green councillor Lucy Bywater said her party decided not to support the budget but not to block it either

Labour councillors abstained as they had done last time, but Green members felt enough had changed to persuade them to abstain instead of voting against the budget.

One of the Green contingent, Lucy Bywater, said there had been "some movement and some engagement on some of the issues we had objected to [so] we don't endorse it but we decided, after careful consideration, not to block it".

The final decision went the mayor's way by 16 votes to 11.

Wootton said he was "really excited because this is really good news for the residents of the borough".

He added: "There's been an awful lot of co-operation and work behind the scenes."

Council tax will go up by 4.99% - the maximum set by the government, with band D properties paying an average of £95.59 extra.

The approval of the budget means Bedford can pay all its bills but it is unlikely to stop government "best value" inspectors combing through the troubled council's finances.

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