Alderley Edge Parish Council agreed at their meeting on Monday, 11th January, to increase the precept for the next financial year by 50% to cover the cost of running the Medical Centre and Festival Hall in the short term.
Councillors voted to increase the precept, the part of your council tax which is charged by the Parish Council, for 2016/17 from £120,000 to £180,000. This is equivalent to an increase of just under £2 per month for a Band D property.
Councillor Myles Garbett explained "2015 has been a busy year with a lot of capital expenditure and undertaking of debt. Whilst the long term investment will be positive, the short to medium term cash flow projections show that, without intervention now, the Parish Council will go into the red within 5 years. This is primarily due to the loan repayments and running costs for the Festival Hall and Medical Centre outweighing their income in the short term.
"Thereafter, 6 years onwards, the picture becomes more positive with our forecasts showing a good excess as loan repayments come down and rental income goes up. To this end we propose to increase the precept from £120,000 to £180,000 - a 50% increase. In real terms this equates to a little under £2 additional per month on Council Tax on a Band D house."
He continued "The second floor of the Medical Centre does not yet have identified tenants so, when let, this will improve income projections. With the nearly refurbished Festival Hall not yet fully operational revenue projections for this are set conservatively within the budget and the cash flow forecast, though both still up from previous years. We shall be monitoring the Festival Hall performance closely and shall look to review projections further.
"The envisaged parking project only features quite modestly, with £7,000 allocated, as we are only able at this point to account for public consultation and professional fees in progressing any submissions to planning. Any further capital expenditure would only be brought to the table when a fully costed, funded and viable proposal was available.
"We have also allocated £10,000 to the Neighbourhood Plan - subject to going live with that project."
Councillor Geoff Hall, Chairman of Alderley Edge Parish Council said "No one on the Council wants to increase the precept, even by the relatively modest sum of £2 per month, and I hope that we shall be able to bring it back down again in future years once we have a clearer view of the finances relating to running the Medical Centre and the Festival Hall".
He went on to say "The Parish Council precept has been stable in recent years, but, looking back at my own bills, I can see it went up by 71% in 2010/11 and then back down by 26% the following year. I hope that residents will understand the need for us to manage the finances cautiously. No one, I am sure, will thank us if we later run out of money because we did not take action now. The coming years have many uncertainties and we need to ensure we are as prepared as we can be for them."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
I believe they are trying to rescue the massive project of the medical centre / festival hall. A project that is unique for a parish council to manage in the UK.
But I have more confidence in the new PC to sort this out than the previous PC who set this project in motion with very poor planning in place.
don't you think it is best to keep the two projects seperate; the Medical centre is so much the mor eimportant. Wrangle about how much has been spent on the F. Hall by all means but leave the Med. Centre alone.
I'm not a footballer, lawyer or CEO.
If there is any blame here it should to be attributed then to the very questionable financial figures that Frank Keegan was responsible for as chairman of the finance committee regarding this medical centre and festival hall project.
Post election and nine months on, I'd like to thank Frank for his public service to the PC and CE.
I'm certainly no friend and we clashed on this web site many times but I wish him well for the future.
But time moves on and we need to secure the future of the festival hall, parks(we have more than one) and allotments for future generations. We don't own these assets we are custodians only in the present.
I don't know why you believe the increase will be set in stone or go higher as the current PC has not said this so it's purely speculation on your part?
As for the nasty party bit, ive voted conservative most of my life but the treatment I've been subjected to, and seen other members of the public, in conservative parish council meetings along with posting on here meant that they were pretty much wiped out in May's election.
Party politics on a parish council ? Leave it to the big boys and girls at Westminster. Lets sort out our local problems with out con, lab, lib point scoring.
With regard to "Section 23" (perhaps you mean Section 106 - these are the agreements signed between developers and Cheshire East?) there are five schemes relating to Alderley Edge; however, the monies are not simply available for the Parish Council to use as they see fit, rather they have to be used for a specific purpose as set out in each agreement. There are five schemes in Alderley Edge, all of which have been in place for some considerable time and remain unspent (perhaps as a result of the fact that they are so specific):
2a (Highways & Transport) - £59,283 towards the development and improvement of pedestrian, cycle or public transport access;
266a (Streets & Open Spaces) - £21,178 towards the improvement or enhancement of existing public open space facilities at Alderley Edge Playing Fields (Park) and Chorley Hall Lane;
266b (Streets & Open Spaces) - £40,083 towards recreation/outdoor sports facilities and supporting infrastructure at Alderley Edge Playing Fields (Park) and Chorley Hall Lane;
274 (Streets & Open Spaces) - £40,083 towards the development, improvement and enhancement of open space and amenity land at Alderley Edge Playing Fields (Park), Heyes Lane Allotments & Chorley Hall Playing Fields.
221 (Housing) - £87,500 towards the provision of affordable housing in a rural area to be determined by Cheshire East Council.
Historically, neither Ward Councillors nor Parish Councils were given much opportunity to become involved in the negotiation of these agreements. Many other CEC Councillors feel this was wrong and I am currently involved in a Scrutiny Committee Task & Finish Group, which is looking at how this can be improved upon in future. As things stand, Parish Councils have no direct right of access to these funds, as they have to be spent by the recognised legal signatory to the agreements (i.e. Cheshire East Council).
As your Cheshire East Ward Councillor, I have asked and had it confirmed by the Section 106 Officer, that none of the above schemes could be tapped into to help fund a car park at Heyes Lane; however, it remains a possibility that 266a, 266b & 274 could be used to help fund one at Chorley Hall Lane. Without prejudice to the consultation exercise that is currently being carried out, I will continue to chase up whether this is in fact possible.
Best wishes,
Craig
Section 106 has a new name now.
Hi Craig,
are there plans to grab the monies allocated to the park? If so, how shall it be decided on what to spend it?
As to sources of money: the Business Rates are (as I understand it) no longer sent off to Westminster. Instead our noble Chancellor has made it possible for local authorities to keep their business rates. Does that mean that C.E. are now trousering all that dosh? If so, can we not screw the A.E. business rates out of C.E. and spend then where they were generated?