Neston Town Council Precept

We have all been touched by Covid-19 in one form or another, and like so many other Parish Councils, it has been another difficult year for your local Council.

On a positive note, Neston Town Council have for a long time, had the desire to take over ownership of the Christmas Lights in the town centre and after negotiations, this has at last happened.  From next year the displays in the town centre will be under the control of Neston Town Council.  What does this mean in terms of costs for Neston residents?  It will be difficult for you to identify the specifics in your council tax bill, but you will see a line called ‘special expenses’.  These expenses, charged by Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC), cover Christmas lights expenditure and for example the parks that they look after, to name but a few of the services they provide.  Taking over this service will now result in a reduction of that cost in the special expenses line to you. 

Looking ahead to June 2022, the council have set aside a budget for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, to include ‘The Queen’s Canopy’.  Neston Town Council are welcoming residents to come forward and work with them, and to make suggestions for this, so that it can be a very memorable event.

Council is looking this year to step up their ambitions and would welcome feasible suggestions.  It is restricted in what it can do as it is unable to take over what is deemed as a statutory power from the Principal Authority, CWaC, such as highways for example.  It is currently looking to secure expert external advice on how to implement this and set out a clear plan and objectives.

Councillors’ surgeries are now taking place alongside the Neston Police surgeries.  If you would like to talk to one of our town councillors, why don’t you pop-along to say hello.  You don’t have to have anything specific to discuss but it would be so nice for you to come and visit us for a chat.  You can find the dates and times on our website under the heading ‘community information’ in the events calendar, or call us at the office on 0151 336 3860.

The precept:  The regular income that the council relies upon has been drastically reduced for a second year.  The loss of our resident post office has had an impact. Increased cleaning costs and special arrangements implemented to ensure that the town hall and markets are safe places to visit and are covid secure.  Costs in some areas have been reduced and expenditure has been carefully monitored throughout the year.  A small shortfall in budget spending has helped.  It would seem however, that income is unlikely to return to previous levels and council considered this when assessing what the 2021/2022 year-end financial position might be and when it projected its 2022/23 requirements.

At its precept council meeting, Neston Town Council considered the recommendation and reports put forward.  It noted that historically and for a number of years the cost for band D residents was never increased, leaving today’s council in a catch-up position along with the complications resulting from the pandemic.  Council agreed for an overall increased precept amount on last year’s figure.  A 4.4% or £2.11 increase per year was agreed for band D households.  The yearly increase for bands A to C represents 60.4% of Neston residents and will increase by £1.40 for band A properties.  Neston Town Council’s spending proposals for the coming year exclude Cheshire West and Chester Council’s council tax charge and the police and fire service precepts.  The Town Council agreed to levy a precept of £294,953. This amounts to a charge of £49.67 per year for band D households.

The band D tax base, the number advised by Cheshire West and Chester Council, has increased which means less people are claiming council tax reduction support and this directly affected the Town Council’s precept calculation.  Although other councils have differing responsibilities and costs, it should be noted that Neston has one of the lowest precept levels in Cheshire.