Budget proposals for the South Hams that include money earmarked for community homes, replacing play park equipment, climate change and biodiversity emergency and coastal erosion have been unanimously agreed.

The district council’s budget for 2020-21 was given the green light by councillors last Thursday.

Council tax will rise by £5 a year, equating to an average Band D council tax of £170.42.

There will also be a small rise in car parking charges after an opposition amendment to freeze them failed.

Revenue raised over and above the projected car parking income will be set aside to help fund the rollout of electric vehicle charging points across the district.

The council has also put aside £300,000 for project sand issues relating to coastal erosion, and £1.1m for disabled facilities grants to enable less able residents to live independently in their own homes.

South Hams Community and Voluntary Services (CVS) escaped a £5,000 cut to its funding, which will remain at £10,000 provided it can demonstrate who the charity helps and how.

Cllr Nicky Hopwood said: “We have a responsibility to spend council tax payers’ money in a responsible manner and we cannot do that if we don’t know the income streams from the charity.

“We have clearly asked for information and we didn’t get it. They may have a pot of gold in their finances, but we don’t know.”

Councillors voted to accept the Lib Dem amendment, but a second amendment to freeze parking charges and stop funding the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) was lost. Cllr Julian Brazil said: “There are many aspects of the budget that we support, but I am not happy with an increase in parking charges.

“Our high streets are under great pressure and by increasing charges we are doing little to encourage people to come and visit our towns.

On the LEP, he added: “What has the LEP ever down for the South Hams?”

Cllr Pearce said a Shared Prosperity Fund – made up of funds that would have been sent to the EU – would be instead sent to the LEP, and added: “That’s why it is worth going into the LEP, in the chance of getting something out of it.”

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Pearce said: “I am delighted we can turn our attention to some very exciting projects in this financial year.

“In spite of severe budget pressures, we are still managing to make a significant investment in community housing projects. That means across four schemes we will be creating 55 new homes.

“Our play park replacement scheme will see new equipment in parks in Ivybridge, Kingsbridge, Woolwell and Salcombe. As we aim to make the council carbon neutral by 2030, and are working with our partners on a Devon-wide plan, we have also managed to find £400,000 to help us tackle climate change and biodiversity loss.

“This year, £150,000 had to be allocated to upgrading the council’s IT systems.

“I am pleased to say that we shall be installing a great new solution that provides excellent value for money and improve customer interaction with us.

“We have also identified two key jobs that we believe would add significant benefit to the wellbeing and economic health of the district, an economy officer and a climate change officer.”

Cllr Pearce added: “Again this year, we are going to increase council tax by £5 per year or 42 pence per month per household.

“This small increase will make a big difference to our ability to provide essential services and projects such as community housing schemes in several of our villages.

“If you compare our annual spend of £9.4m, it is about the same amount of money that the average secondary school has to spend each year.

“Sound resource management means we manage to do a lot with the money we have.”