Council tax bills could increase by £80 as county council plans £40m investment in Cambridgeshire’s roads

People could pay around £80 more a year to Cambridgeshire County Council if a 4.99% council tax increase goes ahead.

The authority leadership said they understood some people were still struggling due to the cost of living crisis but said there is support out there for those who need help paying council tax.

The potential 4.99% council tax increase – the most the council can put it up without a people’s referendum – has been proposed as part of the county council’s budget, which also includes plans to invest over £40million into Cambridgeshire’s roads, footpaths, cycleways, and drainage systems in the coming years.

The authority is also proposing to invest £20million over the next three years to support providers of adult social care services and to invest £6.8million in low-carbon heating for schools and council buildings.

Cllr Lucy Nethsingha (Liberal Democrat), leader of the county council, said it had been a “difficult budget” to put together.

She said the authority had faced some “nasty surprises”, including the increase to national insurance, which she said was a “significant cost” to the county council that had not been fully funded by the government.

Cllr Nethsingha said the county council is also facing high costs for providing a rising number of children with home-to-school transport.

Currently, the county council estimates it is facing a £34.2million budget gap in 2025/26. The authority said it has plans to reduce the gap, adding that reserves would not be used and that the “emergency money” would be protected.

The authority said increasing council tax by 4.99%, an increase of £80.82 a year for a Band D household, will raise around £20million to spend on essential services.

The county council said just over 50% of people who responded to its budget consultation supported a council tax increase to help maintain or improve essential services.

Cllr Nethsingha said: “We know some people are still really struggling with the cost of living crisis and council tax is a difficult thing to live with.

“All district councils have policies for people on low incomes and I would really recommend that people who are struggling to pay council tax get in touch with the county or district council, so we can point them in the right direction.

“At the county, we have our own processes of helping people understand how to get the maximum out of their income, as we are aware a lot of people in the county should be getting more support than they are.”

CllrElisa Meschini (Labour), deputy leader of the county council, said it was important for people to realise that the money the county council raises goes towards ‘keeping important services alive, which keeps families alive’.

Stephen Moir, chief executive, said while politicians were having to make “difficult choices” the county council is “still a billion-pound organisation” that is spending money on and delivering essential services to people in Cambridgeshire.

Over £40million of investment in highways was one of the proposals highlighted by the county’s leadership.

The authority is proposing to invest £21million in the county’s road network, footpaths, cycleways, and drainage systems in 2025/26, and a further £20million in 2026/27.

However, Cllr Nethsingha said she feared it would still not be enough investment for people to see a difference on the roads in the short term.

She said: “The thing that is really difficult to get across to people is actually the scale of funding that we would need to really make a noticeable difference in a short time to our roads.

“If we were to bring all of our roads back into a condition we would want to see, we would need to spend around £600million.

“We are spending around £20million a year, so the gap is quite significant.

“The thing that we are, I think, achieving is that we are stopping things getting worse, that doesn’t sound very glamorous, but it is actually quite important.”

Cllr Nethsingha added that some work undertaken to help stop roads deteriorating included clearing gullies to allow water to flow off the road.

She said this may not be noticed as much by people, but claimed it was a “significant change” from before the Joint Administration took over the county council.

Cllr Nethsingha said: “I think it will take some time before people notice the roads are in a better condition, they will in the end be better, but it is not fast.”

Cllr Meschini added that the county council needed to be able to stop the deterioration and “turn the curve” before improvement could be achieved.

She added that the authority also needed to manage the disruption to people of closing roads in order to undertake maintenance and repairs.

The budget proposals are due to be presented to the county council’s strategy, resources, and performance committee next week.