Regenerating a business park and a new Town Hall Quarter will receive funding after councillors backed plans to spend £80 million next year.

The 2022/23 budget was passed at a Watford Borough Council meeting on Monday evening (January 24), which Watford mayor Peter Taylor said was a "considered and sensible response" to the cost of Covid-19 while continuing to invest in the town.

However, the council refused an opposition amendment to freeze burial fees, something the Labour group described as "indefensible" during the pandemic.

Residents in Watford will also see a rise in council tax, with the borough council agreeing to increase its share by 1.5 per cent - which will amount to a yearly £4.17 increase for Band D properties.

Major projects to be funded by the council next year include £12.5 million on the refurbishment of Watford town hall and the Colosseum to create a new Town Hall Quarter. A further £12 million will be spent in 2023/24.

Related: Watford Museum to move into town hall under latest proposal

The council will also spend £13 million on the second phase of work on Watford Business Park and £10.7 million on the continued regeneration in Watford Riverwell, which includes the redevelopment of land behind Watford General Hospital.

Related: Plans to regenerate Watford Business Park approved

In total, the council’s capital investment programme will see almost £80 million spent on projects across the borough.

These capital projects will mostly be funded through borrowing, which is accounted for in the balanced day-to-day revenue budget.

The borough council will also set aside just shy of £3 million to assemble land to deliver new housing developments. Nearly £1.7 million will be spent assembling a parcel to deliver around 100 new homes, with around £1 million spent for a second site.

Other spending plans include committing £550,000 over three years to meet demand for allotments in the borough, and £750,000 on play area improvements with Lea Farm Rec, Meriden Park and Leavesden Green Rec identified as priorities.

The borough council will also spend £42,000 on a Watford FC memorial area in Vicarage Road Cemetery, allowing for supporters to scatter ashes or display plaques. This comes after the club said it is no longer possible to scatter ashes inside the stadium itself.

Related: Council has 'dug its own hole' after £550,000 earmarked to ease allotment 'demand'

Related: Ashes of fans to be made into plaques at Vicarage Road Cemetery

To ensure the budget is balanced, £78,000 is expected to be taken from the council’s reserves at the end of this financial year to bridge a funding gap, followed by £89,000 next year. This is forecast to leave a total of £17.86m in the council’s reserves. 

The council has said not renewing some services from its Watford 2020 transformation programme, and stripping the contingency budgets within some areas will address this shortfall in the future without the need for cuts to front-line services.

The authority also confirmed it now raises £12 million a year from its commercial property portfolio, which is above the £9.5 million raised through collecting council tax.

See more: Hertfordshire County Council set to increase tax bill by maximum amount possible

Speaking at Monday’s full council meeting, Liberal Democrat mayor Peter Taylor said: "This is a budget of a mayor, a cabinet and administration that is as ambitious as it has ever been for Watford. The budget is a considered and sensible response to continuing pressures on resources and the need to invest in Watford.

"Our careful financial management has allowed Watford to manage the financial pressures from the pandemic, protect key frontline-services and invest in key areas."

Opposition councillors had hoped to make an amendment to the budget to freeze any rise in burial fees.

Labour’s candidate for this year’s Watford mayoral election, Cllr Asif Khan, said Liberal Democrats were "defending the indefensible" during the pandemic by raising fees.

The increase in fees would bring the council around £20,000, something Cllr Khan's colleague Cllr Matt Turmaine said would "practically disappear without a trace in this multi-million pound budget, but the difference it will make to grieving families as they bury their dead in a global pandemic will be very significant".

The Lib Dems said the rise was in line with an increase in burial costs, and remained below inflation so refused to support the amendment. Mr Taylor said it amounted to a "real terms cut" and the council will still be subsidising burial costs.

The amendment failed and the budget passed as proposed, with 26 councillors voting in favour, and nine councillors abstaining from the vote.

Webcast available here https://aisapps.sonicfoundry.com/AuditelScheduler/Player/Index/?id=73d4ca85-4b79-46eb-861f-49cc18e2cafd&presID=c720f4975cff4dc185a1ac9eb199a47a1d

Documents available here https://watford.moderngov.co.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=17246#mgDocuments