Councillors voted on Wednesday to approve the budget for the new super council for the year ahead. 

The new unitary authority, Dorset Council, will be formed on April 1 and will replace the six county, district and borough councils.

The finances for the six councils will be brought into one new organisation, with one budget of £295m.

Members of the Shadow Dorset Council said despite mounting pressure from growing demand for services, rising costs of inflation and reduced funding from central government, the 2019/20 budget will be balanced.

Where have they made savings? 

A spokesman for the council said the reorganisation had enabled significant savings to be made through:

  • Reducing the number of councillors from 204 to 82 saving £400,000
  • Reducing the number of senior officer roles and eradicating overlap across central services like finance, HR, IT and others - saving more than £5m
  • Additional savings have been made on insurance, audit fees and other activities where the council will only have to pay for one organisation rather than six

What are they funding? 

The council says it will also see an increase in funding to a number of important services, including:

  • An additional £5.8m for the care and education of children
  • An additional £900k to increase the number of foster carers
  • An additional £1.372m for rubbish collection, recycling and street cleaning services delivered by Dorset Waste Partnership
  • An additional £1.5m for social care services for vulnerable disabled and elderly adults
  • An additional £150k towards tackling homelessness

Fees and Charges

Local services in different areas of Dorset such as car parks and leisure centres will continue to be provided unchanged, at the same prices.

However, services which are standardised and provided county-wide, such as planning, building control, local searches and licensing, will have aligned fees so that everyone pays the same amount for the same service.

Council Tax 

From April 1, all residents in the new Dorset Council area will pay a standard council tax rate for Dorset Council.

Previously, council tax rates varied across the five district and borough councils.

The average ‘Band D’ rate for Dorset Council will be £1629.75. This does not include charges for town or parish councils, police or fire and rescue services.