Many thanks to Cllr Gill Rogers for this report from last week’s precept meeting. Ed
Bembridge Parish Council set their precept for the coming year at their recent meeting. The precept is to rise by approximately 20% to £117,000, the increase going into contingency’s for services that the parish may need to take on in the future.
It was noted that for the last three years the precept had not risen.
Those at the meeting heard that the budget was one of the most difficult to set due to the lack of information and late decisions coming from the Isle of Wight council (IWC).
Why so high?
Bembridge has a significant property portfolio and also own land, burial grounds and monuments. They are also fortunate to have a parish office which is open five days a week.
All grounds maintenance is undertaking by two part-time workers and the administration is carried out by a full time clerk and part-time assistant.
What does the contingency cover?
The contingency covers services that might be lost; this includes the library and all public toilets in the village.
Councillors were also aware that other services might well be affected in the future that the Island Council did not have a statutory duty to undertake.
Bembridge Library
Bembridge Library is down for closure at the end of June. Councillors heard that Cllr George Brown had met with representatives from the parish council and the meeting was positive.
However in the meeting it was stated that the service and the building in Bembridge are not surplus to requirements.
The Parish Council understands that they are unable to take on the building, at the present time, as the IWC are unable to transfer the Library under their Community Asset Transfer scheme because it excludes Town and Parish Councils.
Delay due to change in IWC policy
Councillors were told that this is why the date of closure had been delayed so that amendments could be made to IWC policy.
Councillors also felt it unreasonable to ask Towns and Parishes to take on leases for buildings until a pilot had been run to see if community groups can make a success of the service in the future.
Change to toilet proposal?
It was reported at the meeting that although all public toilets in Bembridge were down for closure (five in total) that a councillor had received an e-mail from Mr Beynon stating that the original list for public toilets would be changing.
Furthermore it stated that there would be changes to the original recommendations with regard to Bembridge.
No more details were given.
Toilets not included in Community Asset Transfer
Once again the issue of Community Asset Transfer was raised and councillors were told that it was understood that the amendment to transfers did not include toilets.
Mr Beynon also stated that the consultation process was timed in order to allow towns and parishes to inform their budget setting process for the coming year.
Councillors found this slightly misleading as the Cabinet will be making their decision on the 1st March yet precept requests were required by the Island Council during late February.
Councillors were reluctant to increase the precept in the current economic climate but felt they had no option.
Bembridge being unfairly treated
They also stated that they felt that Bembridge was being treated unfairly by the IWC when other towns and parishes were not being affected.
The rise in the precept was considered to be double taxation on the residents. Not only were they paying for services through their council tax but they were then being expected to pay through their precept as well.
Image: Steak Pinball under CC BY 2.0
