Bramley Parish Council

Budget and Precept 2013-2014

Bramley Parish Council met in November 2012 to agree a budget for the following financial year.

This resulted in a reduction of just under 25% to the parish precept demand.

The Finance Committee assessed the budget requirements for the parish council for the upcoming year and also projected further ahead to ensure that the parish council accounts would maintain stability. It was agreed that having accrued sufficient funds over a 3 year period to complete planned projects, there was now an opportunity to reduce the Precept demand for the foreseeable future. The level of reduction agreed would offer a maintainable financial position for the parish council accounts.

The Parish Council has agreed to set a precept for the 2013-2014 financial year of £65,000, which is a reduction of £20,995. We have been informed that our other income - the grants we receive from the Borough Council for litter clearing and grass cutting - will continue this year, although once again they will be frozen.

We have also been awarded a grant from the Government, which is intended to help mitigate the effects of the reduced Tax Base for Bramley. The ‘Tax Base’ is used to calculate the contribution from each household towards the overall council tax bill, and is different to simply the number of houses in the area as it takes into account different council tax bands and other factors.

The Government has recently changed the Council Tax Support Scheme which reduces the amount someone who is on benefits, such as income support or disability allowance, is asked to pay towards their bill. It has also readdressed the system for people who have a second home. The overall effect on communities is that the tax base has been lowered.

In calculating the contribution for each household, the overall precept demand, in this case £65,000 is divided by the tax base, so when dividing the precept by a lower tax base, the contribution from each household would need to be a bit higher than if the tax base had not been affected by the Government changes. This would have resulted in some Precepting authorities having to increase their precept demand, just to maintain the same income as last year, however the Government has awarded (what is expected to be a one-off) Grant so that Precepting authorities do not need to increase their precept just because of the lower tax base, although they may still do so for other reasons.

We are pleased to report that Bramley Parish Council has been in the fortunate position of being able to reduce our precept demand, despite the changes to the Council Tax support system which is now localised.

Using the revised tax base, the household contribution based on a Band D property would be £41 per annum, which is a reduction of around £10 per annum.

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We now have enough funds to begin the project to develop a new allotment site, which in turn will allow us to extend the burial ground. There is a lot of work to be done in obtaining planning permission, environmental surveys to ensure suitability of the sites, and obtaining permission from the Secretary of State to change the use of the land, but we hope to have the allotments up and running within the next 18 months.

We understand that while some villagers may view the expenditure on allotment gardens to be of limited value to the majority of residents, if we wish to satisfy the Secretary of State that the close local synergy with the burial ground and St. James’ Church makes the current allotment location ideal for a future burial ground extension, we will need to demonstrate a commitment to preserve allotment facilities elsewhere within the Parish, as it is one of the duties of a Parish Council.

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We will continue to provide grants and donations to support organisations such as the Clift Meadow Trust who do not have many sources of income, are managed by team of dedicated volunteers, and are available for the whole community. We have also been talking to the Clift Meadow Trustees and the Borough Council about how the parish council can support the Bramley Youth Club.

We are directed by legislation on the amount we are able to offer under the ‘free resource’. This is calculated depending on the number of people on the electoral roll within the parish, and for Bramley amounts to around £18,500. We have not budgeted this much, but we have allowed £12,000 to assist local causes next year.

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We have spent a little of the money set aside last year for the Granary repairs, as we paid for a full structural survey to establish the extent of the deterioration, and we have carried the rest over from last year. We have applied for a Community Heritage and Environment Fund Grant to pay for some preservation works which we believe will cost around £21,000, and we have now obtained a costed schedule of works to support the application. We hope to be able to add grant monies to our accumulated funds so that we can bring the Granary up to a standard of repair which makes it safer for visitors who may be interested in its historic value. We are also considering installing an information board outside of the Granary so that people can read about its history.

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The Planning and Development Committee have begun to scope the options available for Neighbourhood Planning. The Borough Council covers some of the costs, such as the final assessment and a referendum, but we would have to cover other costs in consulting on this project.

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The Community Wellbeing Committee Chairman has been championing the Community Speed Watch trials in Bramley, in association with our PCSOs. So far this has been at little cost as we have rented equipment from another parish. The long term options for controlling the speed of people who pass through the village are still being considered and we may return to using SLRs and SIDs (those signs which are triggers by speeding drivers to remind them to slow down!) either in place of, or in addition to the community speed watch scheme. We have therefore carried over the funds to cover these costs.

For and on behalf of Bramley Parish Council, November 2012