Gloucestershire County Council has unveiled its £697.5m budget proposals for 2026, which include a rise in council tax alongside increased investment in roads, recycling centres, and road safety measures.
This is the first budget proposed by the new Liberal Democrat administration following its local election victory in May. The council is proposing a council tax increase of 4.99%, the maximum allowed, marking the fourth consecutive year the authority has raised council tax by the highest permitted level. Parking charges will also rise for the first time since 2013, with resident permits increasing to £80 for one car and £160 for a second. Additional charges are under consideration for market towns and railway stations.
Council leader Lisa Spivey acknowledged the “challenging” financial environment for local government but expressed satisfaction with the proposals. She said: “We are delivering on those manifesto pledges which we have put into our council strategy for the next few years.”
Roads remain a major focus in the budget, with an additional £15m allocated to maintenance over the next three years. A further £2m will be spent on road safety initiatives, including the expansion of 20mph zones across the county.
Education also receives significant investment, with £21.17m earmarked for the construction of a new special school in Gloucester and £80.2m reserved for school maintenance over the next three years.
Despite the proposed spending, the budget faces financial pressures. Unearmarked reserves of £0.8m will be used to balance the books, and an additional £4.8m of savings will need to be found in the last two years of the decade. The ongoing reorganisation of local government, which will see Gloucestershire’s councils replaced with a unitary model, is expected to cost Shire Hall between £21m and £30m.
Some bus services may be reduced, saving £100,000, while the government has committed to absorbing the county’s Special Educational Needs debt, currently forecast to push the council’s deficit to £211.1m by 2028.
A public consultation on the budget will open in the near future, and the full budget document is available online for residents and stakeholders to review.
