Harlow Council has set its biggest budget ever which includes a Council Tax freeze for the fourth year in a row.
On 28 February the council’s budget for 2025 to 2025 was approved at the Full Council meeting.
The £244m budget dramatically increases investment by 41%, which will fully fund all the council’s missions and pledges. There will also be no cuts or closures, but increased investment for every single Harlow Council service. This includes essential day to day services and the much-loved community services.
This extra investment comes despite the council’s core Government funding being cut by 25% and extra National Insurance contributions the council is having to pay.
Other budget headlines include:
- A plan to continue keeping Council Tax frozen until 2028 meaning a typical band C home will pay just £4.93 a week for Harlow Council services.
- Over £136.6 million will be invested to transform council housing in 2025/26 which is an increase from the £111 million in 2024/25.
- While overall investment to transform council housing is increasing by 23%, housing rents will only increase by 2.7% taking the average rent from £112.20 to £115.23 a week. The council’s rent level remains one of the lowest when compared to similar councils.
- Full funding for the council’s biggest ever council house building programme for local families. That’s more council houses and more sites.
- Over £39.7 million to upgrade much-loved community facilities including Pets’ Corner, Harlow Playhouse, Harlow Museum and the Latton Bush Centre, neighbourhood hatches and shopping centres and much more.
- Freezing nearly all council fees and charges including maintaining the free car parking periods in the council-owned car parks.
- Greater value for money and efficiency throughout the council to drive down waste and costs on things that are no longer required to deliver services.
- Balanced council budgets for the next three years with no budget gaps and no unidentified savings.
Councillor Dan Swords, Leader of Harlow Council, says the budget will deliver every pledge and mission the council has made and transform Harlow once and for all, he said:
“This budget will transform our town for a generation and the headlines are clear: we are increasing overall investment by 41% whilst freezing Harlow Council Tax for the fourth year in a row. In 2025/26 we will invest a total of £244 million to deliver every single pledge we have made.
“And we will go further, we’re planning to freeze Harlow Council Tax until at least 2028 meaning residents will pay no more than they did in 2021 to deliver the transformation of our town and improving council services. Our budget is fully funded, with no gaps, no cuts, no job losses, and no hidden surprises.
“Given the pressures every single council in the country is facing and the fact that we have had own core government funding cut by 25%, it is truly remarkable that not only are we freezing our Council Tax for the fourth year running but we are not cutting one single service that this council provides.
“We are also increasing investment to transform council housing by 23% to £136.6 million in 2025/26 whilst increasing rents by only 2.7% - protecting our tenants from increased costs.
“We can do this because we have driven significant efficiencies in the council’s spending across the board and massively increased our revenue from prudent investments like the Harvey Centre. The decisions we have taken mean we can now deliver our missions in earnest and transform our town once and for all. I know that residents will not underestimate just how challenging it is to balance the council’s budget and freeze council tax, whilst investing hundreds of millions to transform our town – but that is what we are doing.
“This budget will deliver on every pledge we have made and each of our six missions to transform Harlow once and for all.”
Councillor James Leppard, Cabinet Member for Finance, added:
“This is the fourth year in a row that we will freeze our Council Tax bill for residents. However, this year is different – we are also increasing our overall budget by a massive 41%. Against a backdrop of significantly rising costs including National Insurance and reduced Government funding, we are setting a budget which delivers every pledge the council has made.
“Our budget paves the way for a brighter future for our town and one that residents do not pay more for because of our drive for efficiency and increased revenue. The decisions we have taken have paid off.
“We can't control what the overall Council Tax bill will be as the greater part is set by Essex County Council, but we can control how much residents pay in their bill for our services. This year residents will not pay a single penny more for Harlow Council services with our share of the bill remaining at the same level as it was in 2021.”