Council backs town precept increase

Holbeach Parish Council agreed at its January meeting to increase the Council Tax precept by five per cent in the face of cost increases in key areas such as staffing and delivering on services.

Council chairman Paul Foyster said the initial proposal was 18 per cent but the council “kept in mind the effects of austerity and whittled it down to five per cent”.

Coun Foyster said this was “less than the price of a coffee spread over a year for a band D property”.

He added: “District and county constantly try to dump services onto us too, which is just giving a false sense of economy for Council Tax payers and causes us to make harder choices on what to spend the budgets on. 

“The last two years saw little to no increase in the precept for residents but as laws change and costs rise making the most of what we have is really important.”

It was decided at the meeting that core services such as providing parks, allotments and cemeteries were the financial priorities and some other projects might have to be “parked” until alternative funding can be found.

Coun Foyster said a memorial wall for Hallgate and Carter’s Park play equipment upgrades will go ahead.