At a meeting held at Durweston Village Hall on 15th August, preliminary discussions took place between the North Dorset District Council [NDDC] and representatives of their Town Councils and Parish Councils about the possibilities of a Local Partnership.

The NDDC is being forced to reduce its operations budget by £2.1 million over 4 years because Central Government is limiting increases in Council Taxes even more than it has. To resolve this the NDDC is seeking a form of partnership with town and Parish Councils so as to create a larger fund base. A Marnhull Parish Council (PC) representative, Cllr Lloyd, attended that meeting and will report to the Council on 4th September at 7.30 at the Village Hall.

NDDC will receive no increase in funding from Central Government for the remaining duration of this Parliament, probably as far as tax year 2010/11. The NDDC presently receives a grant that is 50% of the average for all other Councils in England and then taxes us at just 60% of the national average. To meet only their compulsory commitments for the services they provide, expenditure has to be reduced by 25% of their total budget.

Thus, the Discretionary Services of the NDDC are under threat, but it is believed a way out of the problem has been identified, in the short to medium term anyway, which is to take advantage of the Parish and Town Council Precepts that are not capped. Our Precept is used to pay for costs within the village such as the recreation ground mowing and maintenance of its facilities, notice boards, footpaths, youth amenities, grants to Village activities etc. NDDC propose to increase the Precepts of all villages and towns so that those discretionary services can be paid for, otherwise they will have to be withdrawn.

The services include the following:

The proposal is to raise the Parish Precept for 2007/8 by £13, with similar increments for the following tax years through to 2011; namely £26 in 2008/9, £39 in 2009/10 and £52 in 2010/11.

However during the 12 months between October 2006 and October 2007 the Town and Parish councils will conduct a further review with the NDDC as to whether we might take over some of these services ourselves from 2008/2009. It is worth noting that, but for the unreasonable limitations imposed by Government, these increases would have been levied direct rather than through the Precept, so the discussion is much more about the value of the discretionary services to Marnhull residents.

You will see in the breakdown of your current Council Tax bill that the Marnhull Parish Precept is presently £19,500, which costs B and D payers £21 or just over £1 per £1,000, and all that money is spent in your Parish unencumbered by additional administration costs of the District and County Councils. So, in 2007/8 the PC would have a Precept of £32,000 to £33,000, before any increases your PC might deem necessary for current items of expenditure. But in the following tax years these discretionary services may become the responsibilities of Parish and Town Councils.

The choice is clear, either we accept further and severe reductions in the services provided by NDDC or we pay for them through this mechanism created to get round the Government's unreasonable policy on Council Taxes. It is unavoidably a political issue, but it effects every Council Tax payer, most of all those in under-subsidised areas.

The matter is URGENT, as we have to respond by mid October, which means we have only 2 meetings at which the matter can be discussed by the PC and Villagers. The PC believes it important that as wide a discussion as possible is held because it needs to know the value of these services to villagers as that will strongly influence any decisions made.

We really do need a good representation from villagers whether younger, middle aged or older, so as to get a balanced view from all Council Tax payers. Please spare at least an hour on the 4th September and/or 2nd October at 7.30 pm and come along to the Village Hall and contribute to the debate.