District Council approves 2025/26 budget

The council’s £14.6m revenue budget for 2025/26 was agreed at a meeting of the Full Council on Tuesday 25 February. This money is used to fund day-to-day services, such as waste collection, parking, housing and homelessness support, parks and open spaces, and more.

Alongside ensuring there are no staff redundancies, no cuts to services, or increased car parking charges, the council will be committing extra resources to support parking schemes, as well as improving and maintaining footpaths, alleyways and money to improve Rickmansworth town centre.

A further £400,000 will be injected into the Local Plan process – the blueprint that will guide development in the district – to gather more evidence required by the government for an early submission.

An extra £500,000 a year from the council’s capital budget, which funds one-off projects, will be used to fund sustainability schemes to help further reduce carbon emissions in the district.

The council will also continue to exempt the poorest households from paying council tax and support children in need and on free school meals with free swimming lessons, as well as those over the age of 60.

In order for the council to continue to provide its high-quality services, it will require an increase of less than 2p a day (about 11p a week) for the average Band D property, which equates to an extra £5.99 a year or 2.99%.

Depending on where in the district residents live, the percentage they pay to the council for Three Rivers services is between 8% and 11% - with more than 75% going to Hertfordshire County Council.

Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, Leader of Three Rivers District Council, said: “We know during a cost-of-living crisis that another bill increase is not welcomed but we have kept this as low as possible whilst meeting increased costs.

“While the council is in a good place financially, we still need to be mindful of ongoing challenges and uncertainties in order to continue to deliver efficient and effective services for our residents.”