Bath and North East Somerset residents will see their council tax bills increase by more than £55 in April.

Liberal Democrat council leaders hailed their budget as "maximising ambition", investing in the future and avoiding damaging cuts as they make £11.8million in savings.

Opposition councillors criticised the "lack of vision" and "skewed priorities", with concerns the level of detail made their job scrutinising it more difficult.

Deputy leader Richard Samuel, the Lib Dem cabinet member for resources, said: "This is a budget that maximises our ambition to make Bath and North East Somerset a better place, that maintains the move towards carbon reduction particularly in transport, that invests in key services, and provides the building of new council houses for the first time in over 30 years.

"It is also a budget that invests in the future not only for residents but also in the council itself to enable it to become a better performing council, able to do more and better for all our residents. This programme has to be fully funded and to avoid damaging cuts it is necessary to raise council tax but only as little as possible."

The average band D household will pay the authority an extra £45.73, an increase of 2.99 per cent.

Council tax bills also include payments to Avon and Somerset Police, which has increased its precept by £10, and the amount going to Avon Fire and Rescue Service is up by £1.52. Most town and parish councils are also increasing their precepts.

Bath and North East Somerset Council's budget for 2022/23 passed on February 15 with 34 votes in favour to five against, with 18 abstentions.

Here are the views from across the virtual council chamber.

Conservatives

Group leader Vic Pritchard said the Lib Dems' "skewed priorities", an "irrational fear of cars" and an "unnecessarily draconian response to a hypothetical terror attack" had made it unnecessarily difficult for people with disabilities to drive into central Bath. Cabinet members rejected that claim.

Mr Pritchard accused the council of pursuing vanity projects and said its leaders are "so busy trying to save the planet they've forgotten about Bath and North East Somerset".

The Lib Dems previously highlighted his comments in a Somer Valley FM interview when he said his party would "probably have to do something of a similar kind this time round" to the redundancies under the last Conservative administration. Mr Pritchard said those job losses were necessary because of the £1.7million deficit inherited from the Lib Dems, and he feared being put in a similar situation.

His colleague Councillor Michael Evans said last week's cabinet meeting turned into a "Tory-damning party political broadcast" with no chance to reply. He said the council should scrap the ring of steel "nobody asked for, that nobody wants and which is as unnecessary as it is unsightly" and save the £128,000 operating costs instead of cutting £126,000 from the library budget.

Councillor Karen Warrington was disappointed in the budget and the lack of detail, saying it was not possible to see if the things she requested were included.

Labour

Group leader Robin Moss described the budget as "difficult but somewhat disappointing". He warned that holding one in 50 posts vacant will cause issues next winter when sickness levels increase, and said any savings would be lost bringing in agency staff.

He said the Lib Dems were missing opportunities, there was a lack of vision and a failure to anticipate problems coming down the road.

Independents

Councillor Shaun Hughes said the political game-playing over parking charges planned for Midsomer Norton and Radstock that were later scrapped was "negative and toxic", while Cllr Dr Yukteshwar Kumar said residents "aren't as foolish as they think".

He said libraries need more support and opposed plans for Bath's ring of steel.

Independent group leader Karen Walker criticised the lack of detail in the budget and said it placed a huge burden on residents.

Green

The sole Green councillor, former Lib Dem cabinet member Joanna Wright, also expressed concern about the level of detail in the budget and called for financial training for all councillors.

"The leader and deputy leaders are clearly asleep at the wheel, senior management are using obfuscating economic language, residents deserve better," she said.

Responding, Mr Samuel said there was plenty of information included in the budget and he would take comments about transparency with a "pinch of salt".

[H2]Lib Dems[H2]

Members of the majority party queued up to praise the budget.

Council leader Kevin Guy said: "We are investing in new staff, we are increasing spending on key services, we are enhancing our neighbourhood services, we are getting the basics right and we are protecting our children and adult services."

Deputy leader Sarah Warren said the budget "clearly demonstrates this administration's ongoing commitment and determination to use all tools at our disposal to tackle the deepening environmental crisis with seriousness and speed".

Councillor Dine Romero, the cabinet member for children and young people, communities and culture, gave her assurance that – as long as she has any influence – Bath Central Library is not having services cut, and it is not being merged with one stop shop services, following concerns from campaigners.

Cabinet member Tom Davies said the party was also delivering on its promise to build the first council houses in a generation.

Cabinet members highlighted positives in the budget, including:

A decent pay settlement for staff

funding to develop the business case for the Fashion Museum to its new location in the Milsom Quarter and the development of a collections centre

Cash to regenerate high streets

Completion of the Radstock healthy living centre

Plans to relocate primary and secondary alternative provision onto the Culverhay school site – this still leaves a significant part of the site available for a new education offer

Funding to fix the roof at the Carrswood Day Centre to safeguard its future supporting some of the district's most vulnerable residents

Money to try again to "combat the blight which gulls bring to residents"

Ensuring impacts of transport schemes are mitigated for those people who need the most support