Drama As Arun Councillors Attempt To Set Budget

There was more drama when Arun District Council finally set its budget and council tax for 2023/24.

The issue should have been dealt with at a meeting held last week, but it was adjourned after an amendment to freeze council tax was approved, prompting Conservative council leader Shaun Gunner to attempt to withdraw the entire budget.

Things proved to be just as controversial when councillors met again on Thursday (March 9).

After being advised by officers that the amendment had been valid, the budget appeared to have been approved by 23 votes to 22 with two abstentions.

But this was Arun District Council where it seemed nothing could be that simple.

The meeting descended into chaos when Steve Goodheart (Arun Independent Group, Hotham), who had voted in favour of the budget, declared that he meant to vote against.

What followed was, at best, unusual – at worst, farcical.

The council’s legal officer initially told Mr Goodheart: “The vote’s recorded and that is that, I’m afraid.”

Grant Roberts (Con, Arundel & Walberton) then declared that he knew of two occasions when people had been allowed to change their vote – offering to provide video evidence.

When Alison Cooper (Con, Rustington East), who was chairing the meeting, agreed it had happened before and asked the legal officer for advice, Dr James Walsh (Lib Dem, Beach) said she was ‘being leant on’.

After a failed vote on whether to adjourn, followed by what was essentially an adjournment while the chair spoke to the legal officer, many a raised voice, a point of order and a declaration from Hugh Coster (Ind, Aldwick East) that the council was ‘bending the rules’, Mr Goodheart was allowed to ‘correct his error’.

This, of course, flipped the result and meant that they had still not approved a budget for the coming year.

Then up stepped Isabel Thurston (Green, Barnham) who appeared to be the calming voice in the ongoing storm.

She tabled a new amendment asking for £100,000 to be added to the Council Tax Hardship Fund and another £100,000 to be put into the climate change budget, with both pots of money to be taken from reserves.

While the Tories and the Lib Dems had previously been at loggerheads, Mrs Thurston’s amendment went down well with the vast majority.

The budget was finally voted through by 37 votes to four with five abstentions.

The budget will use just shy of £5m from reserves to plug a gap in the figures, while Arun’s portion of the council tax bill will rise by 2.99 per cent.

This will increase a Band D bill to £202.34, with a £15 increase from Sussex Police and another £77.67 increase from the county council to add.

The budget includes a 7 per cent rent rise for people living in council homes – a fact that was criticised by a number of councillors given the struggles faced by many residents in keeping up with the cost of living.

Another oddity from the meeting was the fact that June Hamilton (Ind, Pagham) was in attendance but was not called on to vote.

The council has been asked for an explanation.