Final Waverley Borough Council Budget Delivered

Last night saw the final budget from the Liberal Democrat administration of Waverley Borough Council before we are dissolved into the new West Surrey Unitary Authority.

Here are the headlines:

• 2.99% increase in council tax on the Waverley part of your bill. The Waverley share of your council tax bill is around 10% (with 75% of the bill being Surrey County Council, 13% the Police and Crime Commissioner and the remainder set by towns and parishes in Waverley).
• NO CUTS TO SERVICES for the 6th year in a row, a 2-year balanced budget, and NO BAD DEBT.
• £150,000 of ADDITIONAL funding for local community services and voluntary organisations, with the potential for more to follow.
• FREE Blue badge parking from April 1st, 2026. This was cancelled by the Conservatives when they were last in control of Waverley.
• 10p raise on the first hour in our 14 busiest car parks with a reduction by as much as £1.10 in the all-day rate of many of the car parks local workers and commuters use. Less than a 1% rise overall.
• Continued social housing building programme and upgrades to kitchens, bathrooms, windows, and doors in our existing properties.
• Continued asset transfers to our Towns and Parishes to protect valued community assets from incoming Unitary debt.

Waverley remains one of the only financially stable and viable councils not just in Surrey but in the UK. We have acted to ensure that, as far as possible, we can prepare local services and the voluntary and charitable sector from the exposure to debt racked up under the Conservative administrations of Surrey, Woking, Spelthorne, and Runnymede.

Cllr Paul Follows said, “We are thrilled to be able to offer free parking for blue badge holders. Charging for blue badge holders was introduced in Waverley by the Conservative administration in 2017, and we found the resources to repeal that position and make it free again.”

Cllr Mark Merryweather said, “While we proposed to extend funding to voluntary and charitable sectors to help vulnerable people in Waverley, the Waverley Conservatives proposed instead to focus on parking charges and even sought to undo our proposals to reduce prices for all-day users, often people who work in our towns and villages. The Farnham Residents similarly opposed our extension of support to vulnerable residents and instead sought to tarmac a handful of car parks”.

The budget was passed by the Waverley Liberal Democrat group, Farnham Residents abstained and Conservatives voted against.