24 Feb 2026
Amendments to the district council’s annual budget put forward by St Albans Conservative group are “fantasy finance”, says SADC leader Cllr Paul de Kort.
Opposition groups are given the opportunity to cost out their own budget as part of the review process, which sets out the council’s finances for 2026/2027, and are due to be considered by Full Council on Wednesday.
The Conservative Group says their amendments are fully-costed and will result in residents paying less but getting more.
Their proposals include a reduction in the level of Council Tax by one per cent, the full removal of unpopular parking charges introduced by the Liberal Democrats in St. Albans and Harpenden, an end to the evening parking charge, and a freeze in the price of the council’s Access Pass and the Healthcare Permit.
In addition to these lower charges for residents, they are proposing measures which will help to tidy up the district, with two new officers to improve street cleansing and another new officer to tackle fly-tipping.
They say their ideas are funded by tackling waste and identifying opportunities to raise new income. This includes a plan to raise £210,000 from illegal parking with a new ANPR car and additional officers; more than £200,000 in staffing efficiencies – with a move to sharing services with other councils in four departments ahead of the creation of unitary authorities in 2028; and plans to reduce the loss made by the Museums Service, which now makes up around 12 per cent of residents’ Council Tax bill, despite fewer than half of its visitors coming from the district.
Conservative Group leader Cllr Matt Cowley said: “Every year we see the same thing: the district council asks us to pay more and we get less back from it in return. It is time that we did things differently.
“Our Conservative budget proposals are ambitious and they seek to reset the relationship between the council and its residents. We believe that you should pay less and get more. That’s what we have proposed.
“Our alternative plan would cut your taxes, it would scrap the unfair and unpopular parking charges the Lib Dems have inflicted on our district, and it would do both of those things whilst investing more in tidying up our district – cleaning the streets and tackling fly-tipping. This is a serious proposal to do things differently. It is what our district needs.”
But council officers responding to the proposals have said they are largely unachievable and do not meet the requirement for a balanced and deliverable budget.
This included a lack of partner councils identified for sharing services, no additional roundabout sites for advertising, an unrealistic target for additional Penalty Charge Notices (PCN), an inability to hold more events on council premises, a risk to reduced visitor numbers from increased fees, and undermining the long-term strategy of the Museums Service.
Council leader Cllr Paul de Kort said: “I thought quite a bit would fail to be accepted as deliverable. As it turns out, all of it has.
“By promising to deliver cuts to taxes and charges by cutting waste and making new efficiencies and then this embarrassingly rapid failure to deliver, the local Conservatives are increasingly hard to distinguish from the Reform Party.
“It’s just more fantasy finance from the same source, repeating last year’s disastrous ‘Facebook firings’ episode. I would have hoped that they might finally have learned.
“Our Liberal Democrat budget, in contrast, is well considered and balanced across the needs of the whole district’s residents. It reflects our core values of fairness with a focus on protecting those in greatest need across the community. This is not easy with local finances under such pressure, however we did not expect it to be when we were entrusted with the job after the previous period of Conservative Party failure.”
