Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

Budget 2007/08

The Council set a budget of £11.6m for 2007/08. 

This resulted in an increase of the Vale’s portion of the Council Tax of 4.99 per cent, representing a £4.85 increase in the Band D charge from £97.22 to £102.07 for the year. For more information about Council Tax please see our page How much is my Council Tax?

The budget is made up of £6.8m of Government grant and £4.8m from Council Tax. The Council also generates £3.5m from investment and property income. Savings of £370,000 were identified as part of the budget setting.

As well as provision for statutory services like waste collection, local planning and benefits, the budget will also provide funding for the Council’s long term strategy and priorities including affordable housing, creating cleaner, greener, safer and healthier communities and improving and modernising access the services.

Full details of the budget can be found by viewing or downloading the document on the right.

In summary, spending commitments include:

• Providing £500,000 each year for at least the next four years to help fund affordable housing schemes
• Modernising the way people can make payments by providing alternative and improved access points, including online payments
• Introducing a climate change strategy to reduce harmful emissions and their impact on the Vale
• Working with our contractor to improve street cleanliness
• Supporting the introduction of neighbourhood policing
• Expanding the Abingdon Nightsafe scheme to Wantage and Faringdon
• Introducing an environment warden to deal with “enviro-crimes” like litter, fly-posting and graffiti
• Based on feedback from traders and the public, increasing the initial parking period across the Vale-owned car parks from 1-2 hours to 1-3 hours at no extra cost to customers (a free third hour). 

Savings and fees income increases include:

• Increasing charges to cover actual costs to the Council, for services including bulky waste collection and septic tank emptying
• Removing operationally redundant CCTV cameras
• Forming a shared service with South Oxfordshire District Council for community safety
• Closing the Council’s nursery and buying in plants.