Warwickshire County Council today approved a budget that will put an extra £23.4 million into essential front-line services.

The budget has approved an extra £11m for Education. More than £5m extra will go into work with the elderly, people with disabilities and children at risk. An extra £1.5m into better roads, better transport and a better environment. An extra £1.5m into improving the library service and an additional £1.9m will go to maintain a quality fire service.

The £23m a year investment plan will cost less than an additional £1 per week on council tax bills.

Cllr Ian Bottrill, leader of Warwickshire County Council, said:

"We have had the best financial settlement from the government within recent memory which has meant no cuts in services. Instead we wanted to build upon and improve out service and so we have proposed an investment plan to develop our front-line services.

"We think we have got the balance right between improving our services and keeping additional costs down to less than a £1 a week.

"For more than a decade our services have been under attack and we have a responsibility to redress that balance.

"It is a responsibility we take very seriously and in the light of huge public campaigns against cuts in services throughout the ‘90s, it is one we feel the people of Warwickshire will support us on."

Cllr Bransby Thomas, Deputy Leader of the Council, added:

"It is a budget based on the priorities of he people of Warwickshire as expressed through our extensive consultation in drawing up the County Plan ‘Our County to 2001’.

"We have put the money of the County Council where the voice of the people of the county have suggested we should. This is a good deal for Warwickshire.

"The resultant improvement in services will build on our considerable success to date which has seen Warwickshire win a number of prestigious national awards for best value and service excellence."