If Watford Borough Council were to continue with its previously agreed budget for the current financial year, which ends in April 2024, it would face a £3million black hole, council papers set out.

Ghost tours, off-street parking, garden waste and sports pitch hire are among the items listed for a price rise.

At a full council meeting on Tuesday, October 17, Councillor Mark Watkin (LD, Nascot), who is responsible for resources at Watford Borough Council, told his colleagues: “In the time that I have been the portfolio holder for finance, this council has faced uncertainty and challenges, but never on the scale that we face now.

“To explain the severity of this situation, the Local Government Association has estimated the current local government funding gap [nationally] will be around £3billion over the next two years.

“At this council, as has been widely reported, we are facing an increase in our budget expenditure of £3million in this financial year, so we have no choice but to react to the situation as soon as and effectively as possible.”

Cllr Watkin added: “It is important to stress, we do this with regret.”

On the forecasted overspend, he said: “The last thing we want to do is make it worse by not taking control of our financial situation.”

Labour Group leader Nigel Bell (Holywell) opposed the rise to fees and charges.

He said: “Despite understanding what Cllr Watkin has said, we don’t agree on these fees and charges changes halfway through the financial year.

“We would rather this was rolled into the next budget discussion and naturally we can have the normal debate that we have in January in the lead-up to the next budget.”

Cllr Bell added: “I think we all know the inflationary situation and the economic situation.

“We had the budget debate earlier in the year and that’s when we set our fees and charges.”

Most tariffs across Watford Borough Council’s car parks will rise from January 1, except at Longspring and Harebreaks in St Albans Road, where the prices will freeze.

Watford Observer: Watford Town HallWatford Town Hall (Image: Stephen Danzig)Annual season ticket prices for parking at The Avenue will rise from £800 to £870 – an 8.75 per cent rise.

The 80p-for-one-hour charge at The Avenue Car Park will rise to £1.

The £5-for-six-hours tariff at Cassiobury Car Park will rise to £6 – in line with the frozen all day ‘til midnight charges at The Avenue and the Town Hall.

Watford Borough Council notes in its documents that off-street car parking is “subsidised”.

Ghost walks and authority-run workshops will rise in price by 29.59 per cent – from £9.65 to £12.50.

Bulky waste collections of up to three items will rise from £45 to £50.

Supermarkets will have to pay £9.10 for each abandoned shopping trolley they own if they are not collected within six weeks – up from £8.35.

Tennis clubs’ court hire fee for the May to September season will jump 8.7 per cent – from £1,420.40 to £1,544.

Standard football pitch hire for seniors, including changing facilities and showers, will rise from £68.90 to £75.

The authority agreed allotment fees would also rise in the new year, with each “pole” costing £8.50 – up from £7.75.

This means a five-pole half-plot will cost £42.50 in 2024.

Garden waste charges will rise from September 2024.

Residents who want their green bins collected will have to pay £55 – up from £50.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the cost of a “basket” of goods and services, including housing costs, rose by 6.7 per cent in the 12 months to August 2023 – the most up-to-date figure when the authority agreed its fees and charges rise.

September’s rate of inflation, confirmed in figures released on Wednesday, October 18, remained the same at 6.7 per cent.

Watford Borough Council papers show the authority has taken account of a higher rate of inflation earlier in the year – particularly the 8.7 per cent rise in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) recorded in April.