Labour councillors on the Central Swindon South Shadow Parish Council have opposed plans by the council to impose additional costs of over £400,000 on to the new parish council for the cleaning of the Town Centre. We will keep fighting to get the best deal for local residents in Eastcott.
New Parish Councils in North-Central, West and South-Central Swindon will be having to pay a combined cost of £600,000 in extra bureaucracy as a result of Tory- run Swindon Council imposing new parishes on these areas. This spending will be money that won’t fund local services, but instead will be levied to pay for the new bureaucracy in the new parishes.
Each parish will spend a minimum of £160,000 each on new bureaucracy. This spending will be money that won’t fund local services, but instead will be levied from residents if it weren’t for the fact that the current Conservative administration on Swindon Council forced through the creation of new parish councils. This £600K will be spent on the costs of staff and parish council offices, as well as the cost of parish elections and allowances to new parish councillors, all of which wouldn’t be needed without new parish councils being set up.
The council has been cutting back on local services, such as street cleaning and planning to close libraries. Rather than listening to residents, consulting properly and having a local referendum they have decided to set up Parish Councils. Initial estimates were that these would cost each resident up to £75 but now that all the figures are becoming clear it looks like Eastcott residents will have to pay over £100 extra on their council tax bills next year because of the Conservative council plans.