Rotherham pledges £2 million more to regenerate Dinnington and Wath areas outside town centre

RMBC will fund the extension through borrowing or capital receipts and it will focus on Dinnington and Wath after their £20 million Levelling Up snub in January.

If the government runs a competitive third round of bids, the £2 million could be used as match funding in order to gain a bigger sum, council leader Cllr Chris Read (right) said.

He announced the pledge as the Labour budget passed by 35 votes to 18 last Wednesday.

An extra £1 million has been set aside to continue Rotherham Council’s energy crisis grants.

More than 4,500 families have accessed the payments of up to £250 since they were first offered last May.

The new funding to continue the scheme into 2023/24 is from the government’s business rates levy surplus and household support fund pots.

The revenue budget includes a payrise for home care workers costing £1.8 million, but cutting £149,000 from adult mental health support and axing a £250,000 project supporting young people leaving care.

Not recruiting to vacant early help roles will save £350,000.

The capital budget includes £1.7 million fixing the Centenary Way flyover and nearly £2.5 million bringing household waste recycling centres back in house.

Cllr Tim Baum-Dixon, Conservatives, said: “In my short time as a councillor, I’ve started to get concerned that this council is run by the bureaucrats.

“It seems this budget us written by officers, for officers. There seems to be no innovation, no drive to do anything different. It doesn’t have the courage to try new things.

“Who pays the price for this? It’s the taxpayers of Rotherham.”

Cllr Baum-Dixon pointed out that the £11.5 million savings found this year — such as by delaying recruitment to vacant posts — were heralded by Labour.

But he asked: “If these could be found in a crisis, why couldn’t they have been found anyway?”

A seven per cent council rent rise was agreed, and charges for district heating are set to treble — with unit costs going from 7.2p to 20.7p.

Search for “energy crisis support scheme” at rotherham.gov.uk to apply for energy crisis grants.