Investing in what matters to you
More money has been spent on the services that matter to you.
Last year, the Government changed the way it shares money with local councils. This has helped us spend more on local services, while dealing with rising costs.
You told us which services matter most to you in our budget consultation. We listened, and we’ve acted on what you told us.
We’ve already:
- brought our Tip to You service to areas where fly-tipping is a problem
- done more street cleaning
- fixed more roads and pavements
- helped more young people find jobs and training
- spent more on tackling anti-social behaviour
Keep reading to find out more about the effect that investment has had.
Bringing the tip to you
The Tip to You Service, aimed at keeping the streets clean, is already making an impact.
The service works by having Council trucks visit local communities to help people dispose of their rubbish easily and legally.
So far, our trucks have been all over Coventry, visiting 388 local streets across the city where fly tipping happens more regularly. They've picked up more than 15,000 items including fridges, freezers, and sofas. The total tonnage of items collected is 380 tonnes. That’s around the same weight as 250 cars.
The biggest impact though has been around fly-tipping. In these same streets illegal dumping of rubbish has come down by 53 per cent. Residents have noticed the difference too:
An anonymous resident, said “As someone who was reporting fly-tipping on my street on a weekly basis, I found this idea to be brilliant! I am fortunate enough to be able to travel to the tip by car, but like most working parents, finding the time is always difficult. Having the service come to our street was so helpful for me to clear out bulky waste. I've also noticed a huge reduction in fly-tipping in the area, which is the biggest highlight for me. I finally feel like this is a proactive solution to help solve the fly-tipping issues in my street, which makes it feel like a much nicer place to live!”
The Tip to You Service continues throughout the year. Look out for a letter in your area.
Tackling anti-social behaviour
Our Community Wardens, employed to tackle anti-social behaviour in the City Centre, are already making the city centre safer for residents.
Between July and September the team recorded almost 700 different issues. Of these, 65 per cent of incidents were sorted without any further action or Police involvement.
These included a number of low level ASB activities, weapons seizures, theft, alongside support for rough sleepers and other welfare checks.
A City Centre Public Space Protection Order has also been expanded and simplified following feedback from businesses and the public.
New rules that begin from 21 November restrict the use of loudspeakers, microphones, megaphones and other amplification equipment as well as restrictions on temporary structures such as gazebos, stalls, canopies and display stands unless they have been authorised by the Council.
Cllr John McNicholas, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Cohesion, said: “Our new wardens are helping make a difference in the City Centre. They are helping to target aggressive, intimidating as well as nuisance behaviour, while offering help and reassurance to lots of people. They are delivering great results.”
You can hear directly from the team by watching the video below.
Getting our roads ready for winter
As the colder and wetter weather arrives, the Council’s Highways Team have been working hard to keep the roads safe and reduce the risk of flooding.
Our Highways Team look after 551 miles of road, carrying our both proactive and reactive repairs across the whole network. At the same time, they also look after around 50,000 road gullies, making sure they’re kept clean, so they don’t flood.
Winter represents a challenging time for our roads and makes the job of our teams much harder. The freezing temperatures make potholes more likely, and the excess rainwater means there’s more chance of flooding.
However, thanks to this additional investment, we’ve been able to invest in projects that will help us deal with the increased challenges winter brings.
The investment has meant we’ve been able to:
- Hire four new repair crews, and they’ve been helping us reduce potholes across the city. From April to August, they were able to repair 1,620 defects across the city.
- Clean our gullies more efficiently. We’ve been able to carry out a detailed survey of all our gullies so we can target our work more effectively. As a result, gullies that are more likely to become blocked can be cleaned more regularly.
For more information, read our gully cleaning schedule [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/water-management-flooding/lead-local-flood-authority/4] or find more about how we grit the roads in Winter. [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/gritting]
Keeping the streets clean
Last year, we also invested more in keeping the streets clean. We invested £420,000 into multiple initiatives including a dedicated team for the Ball Hill area [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/news/article/5377/council-steps-up-fight-against-fly-tipping-with-major-investment], enhanced suburban shopping site coverage, and increased mechanical sweeping across the city. Alongside this, we also cut our fly-tipping response times from five days to one and a half days.
This year we're going further and investing more. We'll be targeting more areas of the city with the help of two new dedicated clean-up crews.
More temporary homes of homeless families
We know that supporting the homeless is a major priority for our residents. It's a major priority for the Council as well.
Over the last year, we've purchased a number of family homes for households who are homeless.
By having these properties, we're able to help avoid more stays in expensive hotel accommodation and provide more security for people in a time of crisis.
Here's Cllr Naeem Akhtar, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities to explain more.
Plas Dol-y-Moch
We have owned and successfully operated Plas Dol-y-Moch for over 60 years, and many of you will have fond memories of visiting the venue and seeing your own children enjoy the great outdoors of North Wales.
The centre is funded through traded income and to ensure the venue continues for years to come we are planning a refurbishment of the main house.
This investment will mean that the centre remains financially viable and fit for modern use, by providing a fresh revamp for the outdated accommodation and layout.
It will mean local children will be able to continue to visit the venue throughout the year and enjoy an outdoor adventure to remember.
Helping people financially
You told us to help people struggling with household bills. So we've done just that.
We’ve extended the existing care -leaver Council Tax exemption age up to the age of 25. This has helped around 196 young people get access to cheaper bills as they get started in their adult life.
At the same time, we've also increased the level of financial support available for Kinship/foster carers. This is so we can attract more foster carers and help vulnerable children get access to a loving home.
We are also extending care-leaver Council Tax exemption up to the age of 25 to offer help to young people who need it most, and developing the existing Household Support funding for people in financial crisis.
Last year, we increased Council Tax by just 3.95% - less than the maximum amount of 5% and less than many other councils.
Getting young people into employment
You told us that helping young people into employment was a priority for you. So we've been working on doing just that.
We’ve launched new training programmes and paid work experience opportunities to help young people get access to vital opportunities that’ll give them a better future.
Over 200 young people will be helped through these programmes with many of them getting practical work experience in Council services.
To see how we've helped young people, watch this video with Alex.