Ashby Museum's grant of just under £1,500 from North West Leicestershire District is set to be saved from the axe.

The money had been under threat as the council looked to make cuts to its budget - raising concerns that the museum may have to close.

But Ashby councillors had labelled the planned withdrawal of funding as 'mean spirited' and pushed for the proposal to be changed.

At tonight's (Wednesday) meeting of the council's Cabinet, and responding to a number of concerns that the removal of its £1,460 grant would mean closure for the facility, it was agreed to recommended that the council retains the funding for Ashby Museum.

That will now go to Council for consideration on Thursday, February 22.

The proposed cut to museum funding was highlighted in a public consultation, with both the museum and Ashby Museum and Ashby de la Zouch Town Council providing individual responses.

Cabinet recommended that the budget was taken to the final decision-making body, following the public consultation which received 117 responses.

The proposals for spending £50,000 on improving CCTV and the 2.75 per cent increase in council tax received the most support from respondents.

A total of 63 per cent of people were in favour of the increase in council tax.

In a public consultation, 63 per cent of those taking part were in favour of the council tax increase. Image: Pixaby

The proposals with the least support were in relation to the capital projects for Stenson Square and the Marlborough Centre in Coalville.

Additional comments on the draft budget produced some re-occurring themes including:

• Wanting to retain the annual grant for Ashby Museum
• That the proposals were Coalville-centred
• That money proposed to be spent on some projects detailed is substantial in a time of financial deficit and could be used to either address the deficit or reinvested in services.

In response to concerns about the £21,990 grant to Age UK, Cabinet members kept the gradual withdrawal of the grant in the budget being recommended to Council - on the basis that the national charity has other funding streams. 

Cabinet agreed that the council could work with the charity in different ways to maintain support for local people.

Discussions with a cross-party group of councillors resulted in the proposal to remove the freephone number being taken out of the draft budget, and also for the initial charge for bulky waste collections to be reduced – making it £25 for up to three items instead of the previous £28 (with additional items being £6.20 each rather than £5.80).

Cllr Nick Rushton, corporate portfolio holder for North West Leicestershire District Council. Photo: Leicestershire County Council

Councillor Nick Rushton, Corporate Portfolio Holder for NWLDC, said: "I'd like to thank those who gave feedback on the budget proposals, and particularly the work of all councillors in the council, as the range of comments and feedback we've received were able to inform our discussions.

"There's no doubt about it, we're in a position now where we're having to make some difficult decisions to be able to balance the budget, but we're proposing to do this in a way that protects our most important services.

"The investments we're proposing are in priority areas – Coalville being one of those - and use either grant funding or one-off reserves. 

"These are investments that build on work we're already doing, future-proof our buildings and services, or make our work more efficient and therefore economical. 

"We need to make these decisions now for future years if we're to remain on a sound footing. Bankruptcy is not on the cards for us, but we are having to tighten our belts and make decisions that a few years ago would not have been seen as options."

The local authority says that, against a backdrop of having to make savings to close a predicted £2million gap in its £18.24 million budget, Council will be asked to approve a range of efficiency or income generating measures, including:

• Council tax increase
• The draft budget includes an increase of 2.75 per cent in the NWLDC part of the council tax bill, which would see most households paying an extra £4.36 a year or less for district council services, including street cleansing, waste collection, parks and leisure.
• Increase in charges for services
• The prices the council charges for some of its services – like trade waste collections and sports pitch hire – are proposed to increase by 7%. E.g. This would take the cost of hiring a 3G sports pitch up by between 60p and £2.25 depending on the group making the booking.
• Reduction or removal of some grant funding
• NWLDC currently pays out a variety of grant funding to other organisations in the district. Removing some of this funding gradually over a number of years would help to balance the council's budget when the gap is predicted to increase.

• Use of external funding to invest across the district
• The council has UK Shared Prosperity Funding worth £1.2 million, which it proposes to spend across the district – on improvements to Moira Furnace, on a quiet-way in Kegworth, to create new business space in Coalville and to support the National Forest's 'Heart of the Forest' work.

Moira Furnace is set to benefit from improvements. Photo: Moira Furnace

• Using one-off capital money to invest to save
• The budget includes some investment of one-off money to support longer-term money-saving or income-generating work. E.g. £150,000 will be spent to demolish the former Council Offices, removing the cost of maintaining and securing the empty building and freeing up the land for sale. £500,000 is earmarked for projects that will save the council money in the longer term, helping to close the budget gap in future years.

The Council meeting on 22 February is a public meeting. Members of the public are welcome to attend in person, or watch the live stream of the meeting at www.nwleics.gov.uk/committees