Parishes to miss out on funding after district council decision

Among the worst hit are Newbury Town Council, who will be left with a £90,000 shortfall in funding and Thatcham Town Council who will lose out on more than £59,000.
West Berkshire Council said that central government had not made it clear whether it had received the same specific grant that it did last year and as a result is unable to pass any money on to the town and parish councils.
But the Liberal Democrat party insist the council has received the money as part of its Revenue Support Grant and is taking advantage by pocketing money intended for parishes.
Last year, West Berkshire Council received £258,000 from the Government to distribute between parishes to make up for the lack of revenue in parish precepts when changes to local council tax benefits were adopted.
This year, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has said that the parish council funds will form part of the money paid to district councils but would not be ringfenced for the parishes
Speaking to the Newbury Weekly News, a furious leader of Newbury Town Council, Julian Swift-Hook, said: “It is bordering on the arrogant and is appaling behaviour by the district council. The impact this will have on Newbury is potentially huge.
“We are now going to be left with a £90,000 funding shortfall which equates to ten per cent of our overall budget and the only way to deal with that will be to make cuts to services we provide and fund.
The decision was made at a full meeting of the council last week, at which Conservative councillors who also sit on Newbury Town Council, voted in favour - much to the anger of Mr Swift-Hook.
He added: “I am extremely disappointed by some of the double-hatted Conservative members on Newbury Town Council who are supporting their Conservative friends on the district council instead of standing up for the residents of Newbury who elected them.
“Their actions seem to be questionable and I don’t know they can completeley accept a shortfall in funding for this town.”
“If you look at information provided by the DCLG, it clearly states that the council is receiving the same mitigation grant that is intended for parish and town councils as they did last year.
“The only difference this year is that it is under a different label that doesn’t clearly specify that they should pass it on, so they are essentially pocketing it.”
Speaking at the meeting, Marcus Franks (Con, Speen) said: “This year we have had no specific grant to help parish councils, so we do not have a grant to pass on to them.”
Alan Law (Con, Basildon) added: “The money handed to us last year was in the form of a specific grant from the government, this year money will be included into the Revenue Support Grant.”
The decision comes just a month after West Berkshire Council announced proposals to pass on the cost of some services to parish councils as part of its plan to save £11m over the next two years.
Kintbury Parish Council, who could have to shell out £12,600 to keep their public toilets open due to the council’s plans to almost halve its public conveniences budget, are set to lose out on £2,4720 worth of funding.
Its clerk, ChrisTrigwell, said: “We are being hit from all angles at the moment and £2,472 is about 5 per cent of our precept budget. We will have to look at cutting services or raising precepts when we sit down to look at the budget.
“It is going to be a problem for parishes and something has to give eventually.”