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Let's Talk about West Devon's Budget

Budget 2026/27

We’re working hard to continue to deliver quality council services against a challenging backdrop of local government budget cuts and increased costs.

Next year the Government are implementing a new funding model to Councils. Over the next 3 years, we will see a reduction in Government funding of £0.3million per year (a 7.5% reduction). We are lobbying our MPs on the effects of the new funding model, which sees rural and visitor areas being disadvantaged.

We have had to consider some difficult options but have done that in order to not impact on direct core service delivery.
Business Support

We would like to continue providing business support and advice next year. Government grant funding for this is stopping this year, so the council has found £200,000 of funding from its own budget to be able to carry on this vital work from April 26 onwards. The council has prioritised expenditure on business support and advice over other projects and is committed to helping our local business communities.

This year we have delivered Government grant support to more than 50 businesses and community groups in the area. Through a range of projects, more than 200 businesses have also received advice and guidance to help sustain their businesses, diversify their activities and reduce their carbon footprint. We have also helped businesses to grow into new premises and to relocate into the area, and worked with our towns and parishes to identify future projects that will help their economies to thrive. We are developing our support provision for the 2026/27 financial year, and you have an opportunity to help shape what we deliver.
1.What, if anything, would help your business and the local economy deal with current economic challenges?
Business Rates

Your Business Rates bill is calculated using your property’s rateable value which is multiplied by a ‘multiplier’ or ‘poundage’ to determine the annual business rates payable. For the 2026/2027 financial year there will be five multipliers, determined by the type and size of your business.

We are keen to ensure that businesses have their bills calculated using the correct multiplier. If you are a retail, hospitality or leisure business you may meet the criteria to have your bill calculated using the lower multiplier.

For further information on the new multipliers and to apply for the lower business rates multiplier please visit our Business Rates webpage here.

If there is any further advice or assistance that we can provide regarding Business Rates, including Business Rates Relief, please email us on sw-revaluation2026@swdevon.gov.uk with your account number and a member of the Business Rates team will be in touch.
Council Tax increase for 2026/27

The table below shows how an average Band D council tax bill is made up for West Devon Borough Council for 2025/26, compared to 2024/25. Of an average Band D Council Tax within the Borough of £2,574.29, an amount of £269.41 (11%) is the element of a council tax bill set by us.

Therefore almost 11 pence of every £1 paid (11%) in council tax is received by us to pay for our services. The rest of the council tax bill is set by Devon County Council, the Fire, the Police and Town and Parish Councils to fund the services they provide and we pay this money over to them.
Table for Average Band D Council Tax Bill
The various Preceptors, Devon County Council, the Fire, the Police, West Devon Borough Council and Town and Parish Councils are in the process of setting their budgets for 2026/27. As part of this process the council tax is set by the middle to end of February each year.

The Hub Committee has made a recommendation to the Full Council meeting in February regarding our share of the council tax bill for 2026/27.

The recommendation is to increase our share of the council tax bill by 2.99%. This would increase a Band D property for West Devon from £269.41 for 25/26 to £277.46 for 2026/27. This is an increase of £8.05 for the year or 15p per week.
2.Do you support this approach of increasing our share of the council tax by 2.99% (an increase of £8.05 for the year) to maintain essential services?
3.Budget strategy

Please provide any comments that you would like councillors to consider when setting our budget and/or future strategy.
4.Our priorities

Do you agree we should continue to focus our remaining budget on supporting our priorities of Housing, Natural Environment, Built Environment, Health and Wellbeing, People and Community, Economy and Jobs, Performance and Resources, and Accessibility and Communications?
5.Is there anything else we should be prioritising?
Summary Accounts 2024/25

We’ve created a short summary of our 2024/25 accounts so you can easily see how we spend public funds. This offers a straightforward breakdown of how we spent our money to deliver Council services in 2024/25.

You can view the summary accounts here.
6.Are the Summary Accounts useful and do you have any feedback?
Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey.
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