What can you buy for £2.50? A cup of Coffee? A piece of cake? Not a pint, that's for sure nor a pack
of cigarettes. Why my obsession with £2.50? Well that is slightly more than the amount the Council
is increasing the Precept by. The Precept is increasing it by £2.13 that's less than 5p a week.
So if you live in a Band D property your precept will go from £31.35 to £33.48. And remember we are
legally obligated to spend in the Parish or on things for the benefit of the residents. So what do you
get for your money? We have 3 office staff, based in our Thames Avenue office, providing us with
the clerical support the we need. They are the day-to-day face of the council, they will be the people
you see if your visit the office, they will be the ones that answer your 'phone call and answer your
emails. The office hours are Monday to Friday 9am until 4pm. We will continue using our own
maintenance staff to empty litter and dog waste bins, to maintain the playgrounds and deal with fly
tipping and graffiti. By having our own staff we can prioritise the work, and ensure the things that
are important to our residents get done, in a timely manner. Only last month, in response to a
complaint about very offensive graffiti, our staff were out within the hour removing it, much to the
complainants' satisfaction.
On another occasion, we received an email complaining about fly tipping on Tadpole Lane, within a
few hours we had received a follow-up email congratulating us on out swift response in removing
the offending waste. Our maintenance staff work on a rota 7 days a week.
We are also expanding on a trial we started last April in part of Taw Hill, to cut the grass and trim the
shrubs. In the tail end of 2014, we discussed with Swindon Borough Council the idea of taking over
these tasks. The trial started in April 2015. We kept a close eye on the quality of the work being done
by our contractors, with the view, that if satisfactory, we would gradually provide these services
across the Parish. But external events, in October/November last year, meant we had to reconsider
our plans. Instead of having a phased rollout, over several years, we had to consider taking the work
on, all in one go, from April 2016.
We have spent the last few months, carefully considering the implications of this action. We sought
legal advice as well as financial, and spent many hours discussing what we thought would be best for
the area we live in and the residents. We came to the conclusion that by taking on the responsibility,
we could provide a service more attuned to the needs of our residents. So from April, you will be
seeing our contractors doing the grounds maintenance, cutting the grass, trimming the roadside
shrubs, pruning low trees (taller trees will still be deal with by SBC).
The Precept also provides Leisure Gardens, a community bus and also we provide small grants for
local groups. All in all we feel we provide a lot for £33.48 which is just over 64p a week.
Councillor S McDermott - Chair of Policy & Finance