Parish council’s tax increase

Council tax bills across South Holland look set for sharp rises after one parish council put its share up 26 per cent citing concerns over ‘astronomical’ utility costs.

Holbeach Parish Council voted through the increase which would mean a Band D property would pay £88.29 a year to the authority, up from £70 last year.

Locally the council tax you pay is collected by South Holland District Council on behalf of itself, parish councils, police, water drainage boards and Lincolnshire County Council, which claims the largest proportion.

All are likely to put their share of the tax, known as the precept, up in the next few months.

Parish councils have to do so by the end of the year despite them not knowing the current council tax base, the number of homes that pay council tax, so have set it on last years.

Holbeach Parish Council’s chair of the finance committee, Rick Stevens said: “The utility bills, gas and electric for Coubro Chambers and everywhere else has gone up astronomically.

“The fuel cost, we had about £500 in the budget and we’ve already spent that three times over.”

The meeting of Holbeach Parish Council that voted for the measures included covering the bills, plus an extra increase for ‘projects’ which it says will cost the average householder 2.6p a week or £1.35 for the year.

They include pledges for funding to go to events including an Easter Duck Hunt, May Family Fun Day, July’s Car and Bike Show and Christmas Fair along with new play equipment for Carter’s Park, the renovations of the Community Chapel, new CCTV camera, an extension area for the nature reserves and tree planting.

Not all councillors were for the increase.

Coun Tim Wiltshire, said: “This is an increase for families that may be struggling. If you look at the situation this year where there’s a massive amount of redundancies, Bakkavor are laying people off. The last thing people need is any increases.”

Vice chairman Sophie Hutchinson said: “Obviously we are mindful about the cost of living and increasing it too much, but due to everything going up, we’d be looking at increasing even without providing anything for the public.

“One of our roles is to provide the niceties because if we’re not we’re sort of treading water for a year.

“It’s a larger increase than normal but obviously these are uncertain times.

“We need to make sure we’re delivering value for money and I think we’re achieving that with all of the work we’re doing.”