AVDC’s services for the price of a weekly cup of coffee!

Taking effect from 1 April, residents will receive all of Aylesbury Vale District Council’s services for an average of just £2.76 a week. These include bin collections, street cleaning and upkeep of public parks and spaces. Not bad for the price of a weekly cup of coffee on the high street! In addition, AVDC also oversees housing provision in the Vale, licensing, food safety, the collection of council tax, noise and air pollution and planning proposals.
Although, in line with central government proposals, council tax will increase this year, it works out at an average of just £5.00 for the year – or just under 10p per week – for everything that AVDC provides (based on a Council Tax Band D property).
Even with the reinvestment of the increased funds, council tax alone will not cover the cost of all the services, so it’s become imperative that AVDC generates additional income. It’s done this by adopting an innovative, commercial approach and transforming the way it operates.
Over the last seven years, faced with the challenge of losing its government grant, AVDC has reduced its budget by £16 million through a combination of savings, efficiencies and income generation. It has saved more than £5 million a year by becoming one of the first councils to adopt a Cloud IT strategy as part of its digital transformation programme, which also includes the online customer service system ‘My Account’. In addition, AVDC has generated income from renting out its conference facilities, selling its payroll services to other organisations and has raised more than £70,000 for local good causes through its Vale Lottery scheme.
Leader of AVDC, Cllr. Neil Blake, said: “Over the last few years AVDC has become more of a commercial and customer-centric organisation, putting residents at the heart of all it does, whilst developing new concepts and radically changing the way that local government is perceived. We want to ensure that, despite the cuts in government funding that we face, we can continue to support all our key services to the excellent standard that our residents expect.”