Councillors to hold meetings on impact of making Park North and Park South into a parish.
The Council is currently consulting residents on plans to make Walcot West, Walcot East and Park North into a parished area.
Following well attended meetings in Walcot West and Walcot East earlier this year, Councillors Steve Allsopp, Abdul Amin and Emma Bushell will be holding a meeting for Park North Residents next Wednesday to ask residents for views on the subject and to answer any questions.
We will be joined by Park South Councillors Fay Howard, Chris Watts and Derique Montaut and the meeting is open to all Parks residents.
The Conservative run Council is consulting on plans to set up Parishes in non Parished areas and transfer a number of services to the new Parishes. The services to be transferred include:
litter collection
grounds maintenance
street lighting
bus shelters
minor roads and pavement repairs
bus subsidies
Parishes raise their funds through a parish precept which is not subject to any cap.
The Labour Group believes that the introduction of new Parishes without a referendum is wrong .
The introduction of Parishes is a fundamental change in the way in which services would be managed. It has the potential to be more expensive, less efficient and lead to fragmented services across the urban area.
The introduction of Parishes would increase local taxes by as much £100 over and above the Borough Council’s own Council Tax rises.
Steve Allsopp said “I know the Council is strapped for cash as a result of the cuts forced on Local Government by George Osborne but this is a step too far. It should not go ahead unless it has the support of local people in a referendum.“