Plans to halt projects will help save council £2 million
During the St Helens Borough Council Budget 2026/27 Meeting, prior to the May 2026 elections, four proposals were announced by the previous council administration.
Article date: 28 August 2026
These included the offer of free school uniforms for pupils in St Helens Borough. Also proposed was free town centre parking, bringing back the park ranger service, and a Pride in Place fund for wards across the borough.
These proposals would have cost St Helens Borough Council £2 million, and following careful review, are not being taken forward.
Council Leader, Cllr Dr George Woodward said:
"Since taking control of the council in May we have been analysing how the council spends tax-payer funds to make sure we are operating cost-effectively, along with talking to services to see how best they think they can deliver for residents. Across the nation, times are tough for residents, communities, and businesses. That also includes St Helens Borough Council, which has been unable to operate within-budget for four years in a row, instead dipping into reserves to balance the books. These proposals, made by the previous administration prior to the election, would cost St Helens Borough Council £2 million - straight from strategic reserves - further worsening the financial difficulty we inherited. We have therefore opted to scrap the programme.
"We will continue to review alternative options regarding parking charges for motorists in our borough and seek opportunities for better changes that will have a positive impact for residents and businesses. Our green spaces team's hard work has helped us retain our borough's five Green Flag Parks and gained an additional sixth this year. The service has told us they would prefer to be able to work more flexibly and support more open spaces in the borough, rather than under a rigid park ranger model. Instead, we're investing in enhancing the fly-tipping action team to clean up our borough.
"Finally, we have re-introduced the Councillor Community Fund as our way to provide hyper-local small grants for community groups that will give every councillor up to £2,000 to invest in community projects. We believe this is a more cost-effective way to give practical funding support for our communities."