Councils in Lancashire deliver most variable council tax changes in recent memory

The most uneven set of increases to council tax in years

Hello and welcome to The Lancashire Lead.

It’s a strange time for local politics, and not just because a good portion of the public blames their district council for the state of the roads (it’s Lancashire).

Local government reorganisations, elections that were cancelled then not cancelled and different financial settlements have all worked out to mine a wildly different set of council tax policies in Lancashire - no matter which party is in charge.

In today’s edition, we break all of that down. Wooden spoon is awarded to West Lancashire as the only authority to not formally announce its changes, which The Lancashire Lead understands is due to the maximum rise being implemented never being in doubt.

Lancashire briefing

💦 Ground tests and site investigations for two river crossings are being undertaken this spring for a major water tunnel planned in the Ribble Valley. The activity, along a road linking Clitheroe and the Forest of Bowland, is linked to the huge HARP scheme by United Utilities. A new Ribble Valley Council planning update details how it will replace sections of a 110km pipeline from the Lake District to Greater Manchester. Some sections will pass through other Lancashire districts of Lancaster, Hyndburn and Rossendale. And the scheme could last six or seven years. The tunnel scheme has prompted strong debate and objections from some councillors and residents. And people are being appointed to liaise with local communities, the council report adds. When construction work starts fully in the Ribble Valley, tunnel workers and vehicles are to gather at a Clitheroe marshalling yard near the A59 then travel north on existing roads and some new access tracks and river crossings. But before that begins, ground investigation works are happening this month and April on or near two sections of the B6478 road, north of Clitheroe towards Newton on Bowland.

💷 A new £20m regeneration programme for a Skelmersdale neighbourhood has been backed by West Lancashire councillors. But councillors have emphasised that residents including young people must be at the centre of a new board running the scheme in Digmoor. Councillors have generally welcomed the government cash but one is also wary that the new board could be a ‘quango’. Digmoor has been selected for £20m Pride In Place cash from the government, phased over ten years. The scheme aims to improve people’s health, skills and job prospects, enhance streets, playgrounds and social amenities, and improve household energy use. Local community champions and businesses are needed for a new Digmoor board to decide how money is spent. Government rules and early steps in getting people to join the Digmoor Pride In Place board were discussed at West Lancashire Council’s latest full meeting. The government recently released £150,000 to the council to get things started.

🚗 More than a hundred roads across Lancashire will be resurfaced or undergo preventative repairs over the next 12 months. Lancashire County Council’s cabinet has agreed a list of 80 individual schemes to be carried out – several of which involve more than one route. They make up the annual set of pre-planned highways maintenance projects that the authority, whose patch excludes Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, undertakes each year – and are separate to the day-to-day ‘reactive’ work done to fix individual potholes as they appear. Almost £21m has been set aside for scheduled road repair jobs in the 2026/27 financial year, comprising a combination of full resurfacing works and pre-emptive ‘surface dressing’ – a special process that not only improves the condition of the carriageway, but seals it to prevent future damage caused by water entering cracks in the road. The figure also includes £440k for footpath repairs. The routes where work will take place are determined by the priorities of the county council’s 15-year roads strategy.

Councils in Lancashire deliver most variable tax changes in recent memory

Potholes - never far from the top of the list of priorities for council tax payers

By Luke Beardsworth

Authorities in Lancashire are to implement their most scattered set of council tax increases in recent memory for the coming financial year.

The rise of Reform UK and their promises to the freeze council tax (not delivered), the imminent local government reorganisation meaning these authorities won’t exist in a matter of years, the government’s overhaul of how authorities are funded and the cancellation and uncancellation of local elections have put all 15 of Lancashire’s councils in a confused place.

Local government is confusing enough. If you live anywhere except Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool, you will be subject to increases from both Lancashire and your district council (which doesn’t necessarily mean you will be charged more, as they are responsible for different portions of your total bill). Lancashire is responsible for the majority of your council tax bill. Some also goes to the police and to the fire service.

But if you live in Blackburn with Darwen or Blackpool, you will be subject to just one set of increases - in this case the maximum amount in both instances.

All of which has led to a situation where some authorities are freezing council tax, but your council tax will go up anyway because you also pay to Lancashire County Council.

Lancashire

We’ve covered extensively on these pages that council tax contributions to Lancashire County Council will go up by 3.8% as part of the first budget announced by Reform UK.

Depending on how you view politics, you will likely take a different view of that increase. It is true that it is the lowest increase in 12 years. It is also true that Reform UK campaign material - which the council’s leader Stephen Atkinson has since described as ‘rogue’ - promised to freeze it. That means it is possible to describe it as both a victory and a betrayal without being wrong.

In neighbouring Sefton, Reform UK campaign material ahead of May’s all-out elections would suggest that the party has learned from this (even if, ultimately, there are no consequences for breaking that promise). Their manifesto instead pledges to ‘aspire’ to reduce council taxes.