NORTH HERTFORDSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCILMARCH UPDATE

Station Pub Planning Application (Ref 17/01622/1)

It was good to see the support at the Pop Up Pub in the village hall last month, held as part of the SOSPUB Campaign (see photo). The planning application for the Station Pub, which retains a pub but includes development of part of the site into flats, is still to come before the NHDC Planning Control Committee, this month’s meeting is on Thursday 15th March, 7.30pm.

Changes to brown bin service

You should all have received a leaflet about changes to the waste and recycling services being made in May. The leaflet is available on NHDC’s website: www.north-herts.gov.uk/gardenwaste and this page is also the one to sign up through if you wish to use the brown bin service.

To keep costs to a minimum NHDC is asking everyone who can to use the online option, but you can pay by phone via the general number, 01462 474000, and selecting waste services. The cost is £40 a year for one bin, with an early bird discount of £35 available if you sign up by the end of March. Payment can be by debit or credit card.

NHDC Budget 2018-19

The budget for 2018-19 was agreed at the full council meeting held in February. Total net budgeted expenditure will be £14.6m. To give some context, in 2010, total net spend for NHDC was running at £18m. Throughout the long march to reduce costs, the focus for NHDC has been to protect front-line services: those which directly affect residents of North Herts. Of the £14.6m net expenditure, Council Tax will pay for the lion’s share, £11m, and the rest comes from Business Rates and New Homes Bonus. There are considerable increased costs flowing through as a result of various inflationary and contractual increases.

Offsetting these increases are savings, primarily from the new Waste Collection and Street Cleaning contract which covers all the services the council must provide as a statutory obligation. This is around £2m per annum cheaper than the current one with Veolia, which has been running for 14 years, and some additional savings are expected in 2019-20.

The result of all this effort is that the increase in Council Tax for next year will be £6.49 for a Band D property for the year, to £223.45. Your total Council Tax bill is much higher than this as NHDC collects the tax on behalf of Herts County Council, the Herts Police, and Knebworth Parish Council.

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