Lib Dems set lowest Council Tax in Lancashire

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is planning to set the Lowest Council Tax in East Lancashire.

The ruling administration which includes the Liberal Democrat Group will be proposing a 1.95% increase Council Tax at the meeting on 2nd March. The Council has recently been awarded the highest 4 star rating and was judged to be "performing strongly".

This year we surveyed a cross section of people, using a points system, to find out what their priorities were and the results from this were used in setting the budget.

Highlights from the proposed budget include:

• skills development as part of the £6m investment programme targeted at addressing worklessness
• investing £500k to improve highway maintenance and significant new road schemes including the Furthergate Link Road
• continuation of joint Council and NHS Blackburn with Darwen £2m annual investment to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in the borough
• developing a major new town centre youth facility
• investing in outdoor space including large scale enhancement of Witton Park
• significant improvements to Darwen Railway Station
• regeneration of the cathedral quarter
• the Building Schools for the Future programme is set to transform secondary education and put schools at the heart of the community.
• spending £250,000 for the five neighbourhoods to determine their own priorities.
• taking ownership of Turton Tower the borough's only grade 1 listed building