Residents will get a say in how their council tax will be spent in the village – with councillors now working on the scope and other details for the survey.
The Finance, Governance and Legal Committee met on Monday (27 April) to discuss moving forward with a survey on how the parish’s share of council tax should be spent.
Most committee members expressed strong support for the survey during the debate. One described it as “a sensible approach” to gathering the information needed to make “informed decisions”.
Another said as the Council is a tax-raising authority, it has a duty to consult residents on its spending. It was also noted that no meaningful survey of how the community’s tax should be spent has been undertaken in H&I for a number of years.
However, Cllr Davies – who is leading plans for a £3.8 million redevelopment of the Rec that would potentially be funded with a council tax increase – questioned whether the consultation was necessary at this stage. He argued the survey would not be “most helpful” at the moment as “far more important discussions” are needed at the council.
He told the committee: “I feel we should consult when there is something to consult about, and I don’t really feel at the moment there is something to consult about.”
Cllr Davies secured approval last month for £4,680 to produce artwork showcasing the Rec proposals. He said: “With regards to the Rec development, this £3.8 million has been bandied about and it may well come to substantially less than that. So I really don’t understand why we’re thinking about a [council tax] precept or finance survey at this time.”
When the committee Chair Denis Payne explained the survey was given the go-ahead by the same committee last year, Cllr Davies replied: “Just because we took the decision nine months ago, it doesn’t mean it’s the right time to do it again. A committee can change its mind.”
Resident perspective
During the meeting’s public participation session, village resident Jarek Tomczak spoke in favour of a residents’ survey.
He argued that the Parish Council hasn’t agreed on a strategy for the development of the Rec in the last five years and that the Wellbeing, Recreation & Leisure Committee – which oversees the site – “sometimes does not represent opinions and views of the wider community”.
Jarek also said his own analysis of parish spending raised concerns about fairness, particularly in how recreation funding is distributed among local groups.
As an example, he highlighted that the cricket club received several times more in subsidies than the tennis club during the 2024–25 financial year. As a result, he said, the cricket club covered less than 20% of its share of the Rec’s usage costs, compared with around 70% for the tennis club. “This different treatment is really surprising and we would expect more justification for this,” he said.
Jarek also noted the public’s desire for more recreational activities rather than organised sports, which residents expressed in a past survey. Referring to the ongoing debate around a proposed pump track, he pointed out that a previous consultation suggested strong public support for the facility to be located at the Rec – but this had not been acted upon.
He added: “We have a proposal of spending £3.8 million on the development of the Rec, which is a huge burden for the community and we question whether this represents properly the needs of the village.”
Decision
In places, the 45-minute discussion at times broadened to include criticism of the Council’s internal processes and culture, including concerns about its track record in delivering projects and how effectively previous survey data had been used.
Despite this, Councillor Yvonne Murray urged members to work together collaboratively to “deliver some projects” during the next financial year. “In terms of the [Council Tax] precept survey it’s a no-brainer for me,” she said before proposing the residents’ survey goes ahead.
The committee agreed to proceed, with a working group to be formed to refine the survey’s scope, consider whether external expertise is required, and draft recommendations to Full Council.
Cllr Murray added: “I believe we need to be relevant and visible to our community and this is a way to start practising and making sure we are doing that.”
All councillors voted in favour, except for Cllr Davies who abstained.
READ MORE: Parish Council to gauge views on potential Council Tax rise, Resident challenges £3.8m Rec upgrade proposals, Proposed pump track sites withdrawn
