Precept Increase to Help Fund Renovations and Provide a Parish Council Reserve for Emergencies
18th of March, 2024
Precept Increase to Help Fund Renovations and Provide a Parish Council Reserve for Emergencies
The P.C. owns and is responsible for the upkeep of The Green, The Recreation Park, and The War Memorial, as well as maintaining Out Lane Car Park which we lease. This all comes at considerable cost from the Precept and other funding especially as prices have risen sharply over recent times . We are extremely grateful for the voluntary work done by Croston in Bloom, Croston Together and other community groups in helping look after these areas, which certainly helps reduce costs. If we were to pay for gardeners to tend the many lovely tubs and planters, this would come at a cost of approx. £30 per hour and soon be significant amounts eg. volunteers at the Recreation Park do approx. 6 hours of garden maintenance work a week which would otherwise cost us approx. £780 a month.
The P.C. has to find a significant % from the Precept for ongoing upkeep of these much loved village amenities eg grass cutting. In addition to day to day costs, we have recognised that some parts of P.C. areas are in a such a poor state of repair that they now require additional Precept funding for comprehensive renovation e.g. repainting rusting chains and bollards, regrouting flags, power washing paths, etc... Some items such as the Council Noticeboards require complete replacement. An average double Notice Board is approx. £2000.
A recent Inspection Report on the Recreation Ground identified historic damage that has now been addressed and funded from Precept at approx. £450 and a Tree Assessment on The Green has also identified major work needed in the near future.
The P.C. will apply for some external funding for ‘Project Renovation 2024’ but has had to find most of the cost of proposed parish renovations from the recent increase to the precept.
The P.C. voted unanimously to implement an increase in the Parish Precept 2024 -2025 to help cover the renovations needed and, on advice, to build up a safety net of Financial Reserves for any contingency measures required in the future e.g. urgent safety repairs to playground equipment.
The exact amount of precept payable varied depending on the Council Tax Band of your individual property e.g.
a Band C property paid an additional £7.57 this year compared with last year’s precept
a Band D property paid an additional £8.51 this year compared with last year’s precept
We sincerely hope you share our decision that the increase in the Parish Precept as outlined on Council Tax Bills 2024-2025 , is worthwhile to invest in much needed renovation work in Croston . The P.C. is committed to improvements to parish infrastructure and will use local businesses where at all possible and competitive.
Thank you in anticipation of your support for improvements in Croston.
For any further detail, please feel welcome to contact the Clerk on [email protected]