Poole is a beautiful and prosperous town. Continuing to enhance Poole is at the core of this Conservative Administration’s policies.
Poole has a diverse economy which will be significantly helped by the second harbour crossing and our policies are directed towards building on our success.
Poole has an Annual Budget of £300m which during the last 9 years of the Conservative Administration has never been overspent. For the second year running I am delighted to announce there will be no increase in Council Tax which will help to ease the financial burden for all our residents.
Our latest budget has no impact on frontline facilities such as libraries, the museum and arts centres and has no negative impact on Social Services and schools. This has been achieved whilst making £7million savings during the year.
We recognise that we have challenges in the future, such as an ageing population, a rapidly increasing birth rate and reduced Government funding. However due to our strong financial position we have included many exciting new initiatives in this year’s budget.
We have found funding for 10 extra apprenticeships in Poole Council and extra funding to encourage the private sector to do the same. We are financing an initiative to help get the long term unemployed back to work.
Affordable housing is being vigorously addressed and plans to build 100 new family homes are being developed. Investing in our environment is paramount and we have allocated £50,000 to focus on new initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint and increase recycling.
We are continuing to invest in culture and leisure facilities. Our libraries and museum will continue to offer a wide range of activities, and our support for the Lighthouse will assist in proving first class entertainment. We also have exciting plans to provide enhanced leisure facilities for the future.
The Twin Sails bridge will stand as a monument to the success of Poole, ensuring development of the power station site whilst creating many additional jobs, and improving traffic flows in Old Town Poole and Hamworthy.