As request here are some intial thoughts on the question of a council for Spalding. To start the ball rolling, I have reproduced an entry I made in January 2008.
Spalding Special Expenses – Here we go again!
We had a special meeting of the cabinet today, mainly to approve various financial papers. One of these was a consultation document on the Draft General Fund Revenue (GF) account. Just like all things financial in local government, including the names they call things (GF!) the information (sorry data, information suggests useful data that makes sense!) is pretty impenetrable, unless you happen to be an accountant. In my case, having the numeracy skills of a flip flop doesn’t help, so I’m normally the one asking the stupid questions. Anyway, one of the items in the document was the Spalding Special Expenses and this is the prompt for my latest ramblings.
Spalding doesn’t have a parish or town council, but it does have the equivalent of a parish precept called Spalding Special Expenses (SSE). This amount makes up a very small part of a Spalding resident’s council tax bill, but actually generates a great deal of debate at this time of year. The proposed increase this year is about 4.17% or 1.6p a week, making the average total SSE this year £21.49. Chicken feed most people would say, but even a small amount collected from a lot of people adds up to quite a bit of money (approx £183,000). However, the underlying issue is how this figure is arrived at, who decides it and what it should be spent on.
The final decision rests with the district council, because Spalding doesn’t have a parish or town council and this is where the debate really gets going. We have a Spalding Town Forum made up of elected members and some local organisation representatives. However, it has no executive powers and can only make recommendations to the district council, which can of course choose to ignore them.
Should Spalding have a parish/town council? I joined the district council in May 99 believing that Spalding should indeed have its own council, after all, how could so many people, 22,000+ then, be so under-represented compared to all of out smaller towns and villages? However, now that I’ve doing this for a while, I’m less sure of the merits of this, especially when it comes to unravelling the finances, setting it up and paying the admin costs. A major cost would be employing a clerk in the same way parishes do. How much? £10k, £15k, £20k, who knows until it actually happens? Finding a place to call home (an office) could cost anything from £2k to £10k.
What will the people of Spalding get for their money if they had a town council? Apart from direct control over some very limited areas of council business, maintenance of Spalding Cemetery, Monks house Lane, Hailey Stewart and the provision of Christmas decorations to name a few, not a great deal as it stands! However, once you have a parish or town council, theoretically the sky’s the limit (that’s a scary thought in itself).
So, as far as I’m concerned the jury is still very much out on this issue and given the lack of feedback from the public of Spalding, I think it’s going to remain out for some time to come!
If you want to know more about the issue of creating a parish/town council see: http://www.nalc.gov.uk/About_NALC/What_is_a_parish_or_town_council/What_is_a_council.aspx
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Spalding Special Expenses Account – Published for consultation purposes |
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Original 2007/08 |
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Draft 2008/09 |
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Budget |
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Budget |
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Variance |
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£ |
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£ |
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£ |
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SpaldingCemetery (see note 1) |
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45,280 |
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47,170 |
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1,890 |
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Spalding Allotments |
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9,720 |
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11,600 |
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1,880 |
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Ayscoughfee (excluding gardens) |
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6,470 |
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7,240 |
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770 |
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Halley Stewart (see note 1) |
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31,150 |
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41,330 |
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10,180 |
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Thames Road(see note 2) |
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11,990 |
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8,430 |
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(3,560) |
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Fulney Road |
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9,120 |
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9,550 |
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430 |
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Monkshouse Lane(see note 3) |
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21,260 |
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26,010 |
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4,760 |
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Contribution to Voluntary Car Scheme |
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7,700 |
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8,000 |
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300 |
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Christmas Decorations |
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16,260 |
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17,400 |
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1,140 |
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Contrib. StMary & StNicolasParishChurch |
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650 |
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680 |
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30 |
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Contribution to footway lighting (note 4) |
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2,030 |
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0 |
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(2,030) |
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Administrative Support |
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3,630 |
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3,740 |
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110 |
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Bus Shelter maintenance |
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410 |
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410 |
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0 |
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Spalding Town Centre Promotion (see note 5) |
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4,000 |
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2,000 |
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(2,000) |
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Crime prevention (see note 6) |
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2,000 |
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0 |
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(2,000) |
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Total Expenditure |
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171,660 |
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183,560 |
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11,900 |
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Funding |
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To be funded from Council Tax |
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171,660 |
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183,560 |
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Tax Base |
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8,320 |
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8,540 |
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Band D equivalent |
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20.63 |
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21.49 |
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Council Tax Increase |
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3.06% |
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4.17% |
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Balance Brought Forward |
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2007/08 |
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2008/09 |
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(36,000) |
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(36,000) |
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Earmarked for crime prevention |
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12,880 |
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Agreed minimum balance 5% expenditure for contingency |
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8,580 |
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9,180 |
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Available Balance |
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(27,420) |
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(13,940) |
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Notes 1. Tree works for Halley Stewart and the Cemetery have been estimated at £3,000 and £8,000 respectively. 2. A spiking machine for the grounds (£6,000) has been added to Halley Stewart Playing Field. 3. Maintenance of the Pavilion at Monks House and Legionella testing (£3,900) has been added to the playing field budget. 4. The budget provision for footway lighting has been removed, since no new lights are currently being planned. 5. The Town Centre promotion budget has been reduced to £2,000, so that the spiking machine can be funded this year and council tax increases maintained. 6. The Crime Prevention budget has been reduced to nil for 2008/09 and balances will be used, should the Herring Lane Car park income not be sufficient to pay for the maintenance of CCTV. In prior years this budget has not been called upon. |
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Roger Gambba-Jones 