Nantwich residents could pay an extra £67 a year each for their town council to takeover the Civic Hall and other venues.
Nantwich Town Council says a rise in its council tax precept is needed to run the Civic Hall, indoor market, public loos and allotments from April.
The increase, which will see the household precept rise from £28 to about £95.60, was agreed by the town council’s finance committee.
Cllr John Lewis, leader of the council and finance committee, told the Chronicle: “In the consultation over the transfer of assets, there were very few objections and we’ve said the increase would be about £1 a week.
“But we’re hoping to make the assets more efficient and affordable. If we can make the Civic Hall more profitable, we may see more income to the town council and could look again at the annual precept.
“We’re only taking these assets on because we think they’re of value to the community. The response we’ve had is there is support for it.”
Residents will be hopeful, like town mayor Cllr Arthur Moran, that there will be a reduction in tax from Cheshire East Council as it will have fewer assets in the town to maintain from April.
“People wanted us to take these assets on but there’s a price to pay,” said Cllr Moran. “If we didn’t take them on, we don’t know what Cheshire East would have done with them.”
The town council rise will be discussed at a full council meeting next week, January 9.
I’m not too chuffed at having to pay extra council tax either but to be fair to the council they did tell us in the June edition of the talk of the town that the council tax would increase and in the September edition said again that the town council council tax would go up by around £1 a week and they have said it again in the Winter edition.And every time they asked for comments.
Anyway, look what’s happening in Crewe to the Lyceum.
I like the Market and the Civic Hall and use them both. I want to see them stay open.
The residents of Nantwich can now look forward to this being jacked up relentlessly year on year and I would bet a lot of money that CEC will not reduce their demands on local taxpayers. One would think these people have not heard that we are in deep recession and that many residents are strapped for cash. I have always believed that users of the venues should pay most. Allotments must be worth a small fortune to those who rent them given the soaring price of food and they should pay an economic rent, not a token rent. Market traders should also pay more rent and pass the cost on to their customers, ie. the users of the Market. I don’t recall any public consultation on these takeovers – perhaps Councillor Lewis could remind me when and where they were held. I would also be interested to see the result of any votes taken on the issue.