Royal Borough's £89.5m budget gains cabinet approval

Cabinet gave the Royal Borough's £89.5million budget for 2013/14 its approval at a meeting last night.

A lengthy report on the document was discussed at Maidenhead Town Hall.

It includes the three per cent reduction in Council Tax announced by the borough on Monday last week.

Members of the cabinet gave the green light for it to go before the full council later this month for final consideration.

If the new budget is approved:

• Extra cash will be pumped into the adult services and children's services departments, with the former seeing an increase from £36.8million in 2012/13 to £38.9million, and the latter from £15.5million to £16.4million.

• Buildings and infrastructure at the area's schools could be improved with £2.1million set aside to finance the work

• Schemes which would benefit include the Stafferton Way relief road, for which £50,000 has been allocated for preparatory work, and Charters Leisure Centre, which would receive a £205,000 boost

• Redevelopment of facilities at the Manor Green School site in Maidenhead would be paid for with £240,000 of council funding once an ongoing consultation has been completed

• But at least 28 staff are at risk of redundancy at a potential cost of £435,000

The council meeting is due to be held on Tuesday, February 19.