Chorley Council 2023-24 budget approved

The full budget for the next financial year was approved by Chorley Council last night (28.02.23).

Investment in housing and community facilities, providing access to good jobs, and providing thriving town and village centres whilst supporting local businesses is on the agenda, along with priorities for a green and sustainable borough, where the council delivers housing where residents can live well, healthy, safe in engaged communities, and a strong economy.  

This includes: 

• Further investment in affordable homes and adaptation grants, with measures to improve home energy efficiency and to investigate flexible housing solutions to meet the needs of all communities  
• Delivering support and energy improvement measures for businesses 
• Delivering environmental improvements such as electric vehicle charging points and being proactive in cleaning up neighbourhoods, in addition to planting more trees across the borough as 'green corridors'
• Additional investment and improvement to Astley Hall 
• Improvements to rural business connectivity
• The launch of a skills and jobs programme for residents
• Support for families and young people to access services that can give them the best start in life

With ongoing uncertainty around future funding for local government, the Council has been able to continue to invest in local services and to generate income to reinvest back into local areas. In addition to the saving and income generated by the council, it was also necessary for a 1.99% increase in Council Tax - around 7p a week. 

Councillor Peter Wilson, Deputy Leader of Chorley Council said, "The balanced budget, which allows us to continue to deliver excellent services and key investments has been approved following a consultation period with residents.

"Individuals, families and businesses across Chorley have faced the impact of Covid-19 and ongoing challenges of the cost of living crisis, and its vital for the us to respond to these challenges by making sure that the right services and support measures are in place to help protect the borough.

"While our portion of Council Tax rises by 1.99%, this is less that what the Government expect local councils to do. Because we have worked in way to save money and to generate income, we have not needed to rise higher that what we thought was necessary to deliver our budget and to continue excellent services for our residents."

"Chorley has the second lowest Council Tax rate in Lancashire for a Band D property, and we will do what we can to ensure that we are able continue to deliver high quality services and low tax for our residents. 

"Of course, we will also continue to support those most vulnerable and in need of additional council tax support through our council tax support scheme."

See the full budget and responses to the recent consultation.