Parish council increases tax without telling residents
Westbury-on-Severn Parish Council has increased their council tax precept
A Gloucestershire parish council has decided to hike up the tax rate it charges to local residents by 23% without informing them. Westbury-on-Severn Parish Council recently decided to increase their council tax precept to £32,000 for 2022/23.
This increase will add an extra cost of £8.55 for the average band D property and bring the bill they pay to the parish council to £45.63 a year. The council says it needs to go ahead with the increase to be able to fund the expansion of the village burial ground.
And councillors agreed in January that it would go ahead with the rise and not consult nor inform parishioners about the increase in precept.
Chairman Simon Phelps said: “Burial space is an absolute premium and it’s reaching a crisis point for many authorities.
“Under the powers vested in parish councils they have no obligation to carry out a public consultation with parishioners.
“The problem with this whole issue of the burial ground, is that it’s been gong on for a considerable amount of years, there have been numerous objections raised by a very small minority of parishioners.
“We need to raise a loan with the public works lending body and to pay that off it is going to work out as an average of £85.50 for a band D household over ten years.”
He said the only alternative the council had was to close the burial ground and residents would have to seek burial space elsewhere.