The Proposed Parish Poll Question

Thu 17 Nov 2016, 10:06

You could potentially fundraise another way but bear in mind that it has taken the Community Centre Appeal 13 years to raise £223,000 towards the £2m project (the rest coming from grants, etc.). The Football & Sports Club will also be seeking to raise the remaining £150,000 for the £220,000 cost of their new building. Such projects are typically funded by a mix of sources - a Town Council contribution is just one of them - having one grant helps to get others (a process known as "match funding"). I like the sentiment, but many of Charlbury's volunteers are fully stretched as it is, and unless new people stepped up to organise the fundraising then I can't see it happening. And if you do want to step up to do some volunteering, I think Street Fair would like to hear from you!

Tim and Susie, the breakdown across different bands is:

• Band A: £4.29 Community Centre / £2.30 Football & Sports Club
• Band B: £4.99 / £2.68
• Band C: £5.70 / £3.06
• Band D: £6.40 / £3.44
• Band E: £7.81 / £4.20
• Band F: £9.22 / £4.95
• Band G: £10.69 / £5.74
• Band H: £12.80 / £6.88

Nicola: unfortunately the Government rules for Parish Polls don't allow postal voting - not our choice I'm afraid.

Strictly speaking the Town Council is not bound by the Parish Poll. In practice the poll's rationale is to provide evidence to the Department of Communities and Local Government, which has to approve the loan. If the poll says "no", then DCLG will refuse permission. So if there's a majority no vote, the loan will not go ahead.

I don't think you can say "there will be many [increases] over the next 20 years" - it's most likely that there won't be. The Government is currently consulting on whether to introduce capping on parish/town council tax rises: at present only district/county councils are capped. It looks certain that large towns (e.g. Witney) will be capped, and smaller towns like Charlbury look likely to follow in succeeding years. Charlbury's parish/town council tax is comparatively low; one could perhaps argue that previous Town Councils could have raised it in line with other parishes to build up a savings pot for schemes like this, but we are where we are!

Simon: the interest rate is fixed at the time of taking out the loan. Interest rates are of course at a historic low at the moment.