A PLAN aimed at making Warwickshire a safer and greener place to live has been given the go-ahead.
The Conservative-controlled council has approved a five year plan with the vision to ‘make Warwickshire the best it can be, sustainable now and for future generations’.
The council’s priorities include supporting vulnerable children and adults. An additional £33million will be invested over the next five years to support independent living and prevent the need to move to residential care early. Care in the community will also increase.
High demand on special educational need services will be addressed by investing in specialist facilities.
More electric vehicle charging points will be created, along with more cycle paths and improvements to bus and train services and infrastructure.
Investment will also be made into connecting Warwickshire to 5G which the council calls ‘one of the greatest opportunities for the future’.
Coun leader Izzi Seccombe said: “We need to look at transport for the future, flood defence and prevention and working with community groups by providing trees where needed. We want to protect Warwickshire residents from the risk of flooding that we have seen over the last winter by investing in gully cleaning and flood alleviation projects.”
“The Conservative administration has faced the challenges of the past ten years well. The council is in a sound financial position thanks to prudent decisions. We have increased the council tax and agreed to take the adult social care precept of two per cent, as this will reduce the amount of savings required over the next five year period.
“As Conservatives, we are confident our council plan will continue to make Warwickshire the best it can be.”
Paying for it will see household council tax bill rise 3.99 per cent this year – equivalent of £1.10 a week for a Band D property – and then 1.99 per cent annually until 2025.
But the Lib Dem and Green groups accused the Tories of not investing enough in fighting climate change.