FAQs

Students do not have to pay Council Tax by law and the Council is not allowed to collect Council Tax revenue from properties occupied solely by students.

The number of councillors is determined locally and is influenced by factors such as the number of councillors needed to undertake the core business of the Council and represent the interests of local citizens in each Council ward. The number of councillors that sit on Coventry City Council is not unusual for a city of Coventry’s size. Similar sized cities such as Sandwell and Dudley have 72 and 60 councillors respectively. Whereas, Solihull Council, which is smaller than Coventry, has 51 councillors, whilst Birmingham Council, which is much bigger than Coventry, has 101 councillors.

The Council has tried to talk to the public much more during 2022 to find out what they think about the Council, its services and its priorities. The feedback we have received is starting to affect how and when we talk to the public about issues such as the Budget although we know that this is something we can do much better on. We will plan to have earlier conversations around this during 2023.

The large projects that the Council deliver are not funded from Council Tax but use different sources of income. We have been very successful in attracting grant income from the Government and other areas and this has been used to pay for lots of the major projects and developments that have happened over the last few years.

It is really important for a city like Coventry to be able to put on events to make the city a more attractive place to live. We know that these type of events are a major factor in attracting employers to the city which helps to increase the overall prosperity of the city. They are also popular with lots of people in the city. As far as possible we try to make sure that these attractions are cost effective and a lot of the cost is paid for from commercial income and fees and charges rather than from Council Tax.