The district council's budget plan assumes its Band D charge rises £7.74 to £266.22 in 2027/28, with a £271,000 yearly gap to close. Plus the week's meetings.
Sevenoaks District Council’s share of a Band D council tax bill is set to rise by £7.74 next year, to £266.22. The figure is the planning assumption in the first report of the 2027/28 budget round, which councillors discuss next Tuesday. (Sevenoaks District Council, Transition Budget Process 2027/28, Finance and Investment Advisory Committee 10 November 2026)
That is a 2.99 per cent rise, just under the 3 per cent the government allows district councils without a referendum. It covers only the district’s slice of the bill. A Band D home in Sevenoaks town pays £2,563.23 in all this year, most of it to Kent County Council. See every band and parish.
Even with the rise, the council has a gap of £271,000 a year to close over the next two years.
Here is what each meeting in the coming week covers. All are in the Council Chamber, Argyle Road, Sevenoaks, and open to the public unless noted. (Sevenoaks District Council, meetings calendar, November 2026)
| Date | Meeting | Main business |
|---|---|---|
| Tue 3 Nov, 3pm | Licensing Committee | Final decision on taxi fares; taxi licence fees for 2027/28 |
| Thu 5 Nov, 7pm | Development Management Committee | Broke Hill golf course, Halstead, in private |
| Tue 10 Nov, 10.30am | Licensing Hearing | Agenda not yet published |
| Tue 10 Nov, 7pm | Finance and Investment Advisory Committee | Budget for 2027/28, spending to September, final asset transfers to parish councils |
| Wed 11 Nov, 2pm | Licensing Hearing | Agenda not yet published |
Tuesday 10 November: the 2027/28 budget
The report calls this a “Transition Budget”, because Sevenoaks District Council may still be replaced by a new unitary council in April 2028. Officers propose a balanced budget for two years, inside a 10-year plan. Every councillor has been invited to the meeting.
The £271,000 gap comes from two changes since February:
- £200,000 a year more for temporary accommodation, because “demand and funding has not reduced as previously anticipated”
- about £70,000 a year from the staff pay award, settled at 3.3 per cent rather than the 3 per cent budgeted
(Transition Budget 2027/28, Appendix C, Changes to the budget)
Officers expect the gap to grow. They name three likely pressures: building control, extra elections that had been cancelled, and dearer IT licences. The new bin service is another unknown. This year’s budget carried two one-off sums for it: £323,000 for an extra loader on each food waste lorry, and £100,000 for setting up. Officers say it is “uncertain what the ongoing requirements will be”.
Government grant is falling, too. The council received £4.04 million in revenue support grant this year. It expects £3.422 million in 2027/28 and £2.775 million in 2028/29. Council tax brings in £13.7 million.
The report says the government’s sums assume every council takes the maximum rise. A council that does not “will have an ongoing detrimental impact” on what it can raise in later years. The aim, it says, is a balanced budget “without reducing services”.
A budget update follows in January. Council tax is set in February.
The overspend has nearly doubled
A separate report to the same meeting forecasts an overspend of £242,000 this year. The previous forecast, to the end of July, was £130,000 (our report). (Financial Monitoring 2026/27 to the end of September)
The biggest pressures are:
- Building control, £146,000: fee income below budget, and extra staff and contractor costs
- Housing benefit subsidy, £119,000: the council has to house homeless people where rents are above the subsidy limits
- Transport workshop, £90,000: fewer repairs, so less income
- Car parks, £87,000: day tickets at Bradbourne car park are down “due to new Euro Car Park opened in May 26”, and season ticket income is below budget
- Markets, £79,000: the council has dropped its Sunday market charge because “the market operators is struggling financially”, to protect Wednesday market income until the contract ends on 31 March 2027
(Financial Monitoring Report, September 2026, Appendix A)
Savings offset part of it. Investment interest is £165,000 ahead of budget, and staff vacancies on the waste service have saved £140,000. Car park fines are £50,000 ahead.
The Euro Car Parks site is the 104-space car park at the one60 building on Hitchen Hatch Lane, which we covered in September.
The last asset transfers to parish councils
The same committee looks at the final five requests from parish councils to take over council land. The application window has now closed. (Community Asset Transfer, Finance and Investment Advisory Committee 10 November 2026)
Officers recommend:
- Southdene Green, Halstead, about 2,664 square metres of open space, to Halstead Parish Council for nothing, with restrictions on use
- Land between 22 and 26 Chantlers Mead, Cowden, a 377 square metre green, to Cowden Parish Council for nothing, with restrictions
- A forecourt on Eynsford High Street, about 570 square metres, to Eynsford Parish Council at its existing use value, kept as free parking for residents “in perpetuity”
- Two small plots in Halstead, next to 1 Southdene and 6 Parkside, to Halstead Parish Council at amenity land value, as Cabinet agreed in September 2025
Cabinet makes the final decision on 19 November.
Tuesday 3 November: taxi fares and fees
This afternoon’s Licensing Committee makes the final decision on a hackney carriage fare rise, the first since May 2022. We set out the options and the drivers’ case last week.
The committee is also asked to put taxi licence fees up by 3 per cent from 1 April 2027, after six weeks of public consultation. If nobody objects, the new fees start without coming back to committee. (Licence Fees and Charges 2027/28, Licensing Committee 3 November 2026)
Proposed fees include:
| Licence | 2026/27 | 2027/28 |
|---|---|---|
| New driver licence, three years | £280 | £288 |
| Driver renewal, three years | £194 | £200 |
| Hackney carriage vehicle, one year | £344 | £354 |
| Private hire vehicle, one year | £315 | £324 |
| Private hire operator, new five-year licence | £792 | £816 |
The service must pay for itself by law, and the report says it balanced its books in 2025/26.
Thursday 5 November: Broke Hill
The Development Management Committee meets on Thursday with one item: the former Broke Hill Golf Club at Halstead, under the heading “Call In Inquiries”. Councillors refused the 660-home outline application, 25/02129/OUT, on 24 September. The developer has since asked the government to call it in. (Development Management Committee, 5 November 2026)
The agenda recommends that press and public are excluded for the item, because the papers carry legal advice. We explained the background in our story on the call-in request. It is the committee’s first meeting since the national planning changes of 31 October, which we set out on Sunday.
What it means for you
- Council tax: the £7.74 is an assumption, not a decision. Full Council sets the 2027/28 bill in February.
- Watch or speak: the meetings above are public. Democratic Services, on 01732 227165 or democratic.services@sevenoaks.gov.uk, can tell you how to attend or ask to speak.
- Taxi users: we will report this afternoon’s fare decision once the council publishes it.
Sources
- Sevenoaks District Council, Transition Budget Process 2027/28 and Appendix C, Changes to the budget
- Sevenoaks District Council, Financial Monitoring 2026/27 to the end of September and Appendix A
- Sevenoaks District Council, Community Asset Transfer, final tranche
- Finance and Investment Advisory Committee, 10 November 2026, agenda
- Licensing Committee, 3 November 2026, agenda and Licence Fees and Charges 2027/28
- Development Management Committee, 5 November 2026, agenda
- Sevenoaks District Council, meetings calendar
Image: Sevenoaks District Council Offices by Richard Kelly, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Chart by Sevenoaks Online.
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