Bradford's newly modernised Council was considering its first budget today. Proposals include the lowest Council Tax rise ever and an extra £5 million for schools. City Hall Reporter Olwen Vasey looks at how it would be achieved.

A MASSIVE boost for schools and plans to put thousands of pounds into the kitty for community safety are the main planks of the budget being put to the vote today.

Hard-pressed schools would get an extra £5 million for their budgets - the equivalent of £50 per pupil -- under the proposals.

But the budget includes just a 2.88 per cent increase in Council Tax - the lowest in the Council's history and probably West Yorkshire. And for the first time, a three-year financial strategy has been drawn up to mirror the Council's priorities and enable it to plan ahead.

Members of the Council's Executive Committee, who were considering the budget today, were told the Council had underspent its existing budget for the second year.

Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood says it is a result of good house-keeping and prudent management. The budget proposed for the financial year is almost at a standstill for most Council directorates.

But management will again have to be tight, with savings earmarked for each directorate, which include areas like running costs and recruitment.

Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood says the extra £5 million for will be followed by a further £3 million for the following two years. He says at least £1 million a year will also be directed into other priority areas.

A £400,000 kitty for community safety is also included in the budget, which will include £150,000 for the cost of closed-circuit television. And the message in the budget proposals is that the Council will get tough with troublemakers, because £75,000 is included for anti-social behaviour orders.

The first order was served recently on a teenager who was said to have made his neighbours' lives a misery by playing loud music. The new orders will be aimed at people creating nuisances in private properties.

The proposed budget also allocates £100,000 towards the costs of a £2.2 million one-stop shop in Britannia House and an extra £76,000 for Bradford Festival.

There is £300,000 for IT development to improve efficiency after existing systems came under scathing attack from Chief Executive Ian Stewart, and £630,000 to fund the Council's reorganisation.

Rent rises have been kept down to £1 a week but £3 million is being put into small estates.

The next port of call will be the full Council meeting on March 1 for final rubber stamping. Coun Greenwood said the £5 million extra for schools was the biggest single shift of money ever undertaken by the Council.

He added: "This is not a one-off but is a sign of our intention to make sure over the next three years that funds are redirected into key areas where we are delivering vital services to the citizens of Bradford.

"It means that as well as the extra funding we are giving for schools, we will also be able to support a range of initiatives aimed at cutting crime and disorder and encouraging economic and environmental regeneration of the district, including a major clean-up campaign."

Chief Executive Ian Stewart said the budget was a result of sound financial management.

"If the Council is to honour its promise to improve how front-line services are delivered, it has to carry on using its available resources as efficiently and effectively as possible.

"We will be taking every opportunity to redirect whatever resources we can into all front-line services and other priority areas. We have made a good start, but we must redouble our efforts if we are to build on these foundations."

But the modernised Council's first budget cuts little ice with the political opposition.

Leader of the Tory group, Councillor Margaret Eaton, said: "It may look good on paper, but a close inspection of the details reveals a different story. Yes, the Council says it is to spend an extra £5.8 million next year. That seems good news, especially for schools."

But she claimed the Council had made budget cuts elsewhere totalling £5.75 million, including £1.7 million in education services.

"Neither has the funding been found to cover the extra £1 million for schools announced last November. Cynics may conclude that payment for this will come from next year's £5 million school allocation.

"It is yet more window-dressing from a Council that over the last ten years has spent £7.1 billion with little to show for it."

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrat group said: "This budget is good news if you have a child at school, or if you're a Labour councillor or trying to please Tony Blair.

"But if you are old and rely on home care or if you have a child with learning difficulties, this budget is bad news."

She said the £5 million for schools would not redress millions of pounds worth of cuts made by the Council over the past ten years.

Coun Sunderland claimed the cash for schools came at a price - with increased charges for social services, less money for children with special educational needs and cuts in the school meals budget. "This budget and its plans to move money into education is an acceptance of what we have called for over the last four years.

"But we believe that front-line services should not be slashed to pay for the schools' money and certainly not to feather Labour's nest."

Councillor Greenwood said: "We are proposing a historic budget for the next year. Our proposals would allow us to set the lowest Council Tax ever, while fulfilling our pledge to make more money available for schools throughout the district.

"Through sound and rigorous financial management we have been able to make considerable savings in our budget for the second year running, while providing a more efficient service to the public. This is a budget, not just for the coming year, but one which lays the foundations for the future. I think it's a budget the Council should be very proud of."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.