Mid Sussex District Council to raise its portion of the council tax bill

The change, which was approved during a meeting of the full council on Wednesday (February 26), will take Band D bills to around £195 from April.

Added to £266 for Sussex Police and £1,800 for the county council, Band D bills will total around £2,261 in 2025/26.

The council has managed to balance its budget, but only by taking £354,000 from its reserves.

Leader Robert Eggleston said: “To say that this budget is set in extremely challenging times is an under-statement, to say the least.”

The net revenue budget – which covers the day-to-day costs of running the council – sits at £23.1m, while the capital budget is £36.4m.

The capital programme includes £4m for parks investment, £8m for temporary housing, and nearly £1m for the next phase of the Burgess Hill Place and Connectivity Programme.

Two parks have been added to the improvements list – St John’s, in Burgess Hill, and London Road, Hassocks, will benefit from £563,000 and £866,000 respectively, with all the money coming from S106 developer contributions.

A £1.4m waste depot is also in the programme, allowing the council to become the first in West Sussex to take part in the government’s Simpler Recycling scheme.

As with most councils up and down the country, Mid Sussex has had to watch every penny, leading to some ‘difficult decisions’ when it came to fees and charges.

These included increasing the cost of the garden waste service by £12.50 per year, taking it from £85 to £97.50. This will add £327,000 to the council’s coffers.

A 10p rise on charges across all car parks and time bands will bring in another £115,000 per year.

Following a debate among members it was agreed that parking permits for residents would be introduced at the Vicarage Road car park, in East Grinstead, and the Heath Road car park, in Haywards Heath.

On top of that, a feasibility study will be carried out to look into bringing in a limited number of low-cost evening permits for volunteers who work in community venues such as East Grinstead’s Chequer Mead theatre.

In November/December, the council will start its roll-out of a food waste collection. This has come with ‘significant’ costs to pay for some 180,000 in-house caddies and bins, seven new vehicles to collect the food waste and new staff, as well as the new depot.

While the government has funded some of the capital costs, nothing is yet clear about covering the day-to-day costs of running the service.

Looking ahead, budget gaps of more than £1.1m have been forecast for the years up to and including 2028/29.

By then, though, the local government rearrangement which is currently being explored should have been put in place, leaving a very different playing field.