This year's council budget

We're usually focused on ward news in this newsletter. Crime updates, work we're doing to tackle the Otley Run, news about local transport, local events, how we can help with potholes - whatever it is we want to be on top of it!

But we do have a city wide role too. Today, we're passing the Leeds City Council budget. We thought we'd share a bit of an explainer and give you a sense of what our priorities are.

Because the super local, short term stuff is important - but so is all the hidden work that may not affect us individually but really does matter for the whole city. And it matters who is making these decisions.

In contrast to national government, local councils have to pass a balanced budget every year.

Children's services

Even in trying times we have always managed this in Leeds and have done so while protecting Children's Services - our Ireland Wood Children's Centre remains open for example - we have more children's centres than any other city, and we are extremely unusual in the country for having quite a number of high quality council run nurseries.

We've had an Outstanding OFSTED rating three times in a row - totally unprecedented for a city like Leeds. In contrast, the previous city council run by a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition was rated Inadequate. Turning this around took commitment and consistent prioritisation.

We are expanding Best Start Family Hubs, with seven new hubs opened last year and 25% more senior family support workers across the city.

Continued investment in children’s play, with £600k spent on 20 playgrounds, a further 17 improved, and £1.5m more now committed.

We draw attention to children's services and social care because it's over 60% of what the council does. And we have placed top priority on them because putting children first is most important.

Tackling poverty

On a similar note, we've targeted investment to tackle poverty over the long term. This has reduced the number of Leeds neighbourhoods in the bottom 1% nationally from 16 (2015) to 7 today, proving that tackling poverty works even in the face of austerity.

From April 1st, Leeds City Council will pay the increased Real Living Wage of £13.45, helping tackle in-work poverty and setting the standard for employers across the city.

Recycling and tackling waste crime

Despite historic cuts, we've also introduced glass recycling from green bins and kept a free garden waste collection service - this too is highly unusual.

Fly-tipping is already down 16% since 2020, and this budget goes further with a new Waste Crime Team dedicated to enforcement and prevention across the city.

A new ‘Pride in Our Streets’ team will deliver intensive, ward-by-ward action on fly-tipping, litter, graffiti, potholes and anti-social behaviour, working directly with councillors and community groups.

We are investing in 30 new public litter bins for our ward, improving street cleanliness and prompting residents to do the right thing.

Potholes

We won't labour this point - we all know they're annoying and we want to get as many fixed as possible! A key thing is doing repairs that really last. So it's good news that in today's budget we've announced an additional £13m into road repair, plus £1m of capital investment into new forms of pothole repair including the use of the new Pothole Pro technology and thermal patching.

Supporting the police

We have an amazing neighbourhood police team in our area. We can say with confidence that if there's a local crime or anti social behaviour problem, they will listen and we will work with them to try and tackle it. We have regular police and residents meetings - the next one is tonight Wednesday 7-8pm at St Chad's Parish Centre.

Today's budget means West Yorkshire Police have received £8.5m to recruit 100 new police officers, strengthening neighbourhood policing.

Housing

A further £200m will deliver the next phase of the Council Housing Growth Programme.

Leeds builds more houses than anywhere outside of London. If every council was contributing at the same level, the government's target for housebuilding would be easily surpassed. This is crucial because far too many can't afford to rent or buy where their families and friends live, where they're from. We build significantly more council and social housing than other areas too.

A final note

We're not complacent about any of this. Hopefully you know that if there's a problem, we'll always be on your side to advocate for change.

We're proud of the quality of our children's services but they need work - the demand and complexity of help needed is very high, and any serious local councillor needs to know that we're going to have to work so hard to keep delivering good children's services and to improve where it's not good enough.

We are well up for that challenge, and as your local councillors we promise to keep putting the values of fairness, equality, and putting children and the most vulnerable first.