A Northumberland town council looks set to agree a council tax hike in order to fund the renewal of a popular play park that has been targeted by vandals.
Hexham Town Council will vote on a motion to increase the precept by 15% next week. The rise will equate to an additional £14 a year for households.
The move has garnered cross party support from members of the council, with no party holding a majority. Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, members expressed a desire to ‘catch up’ with other towns in the county such as Morpeth.
Mayor of Hexham and county councillor for the Hexham West ward Coun Derek Kennedy said: “Hexham is so far behind the likes of Morpeth and Alnwick. We just want to catch up to them so we have the same amount of revenue so we can invest in the town of Hexham.
“People always say why isn’t Hexham as good as Morpeth – and one of the reasons is the town council doesn’t have the money to invest. This money will be invested directly into Hexham.
“One of the key things we want to do is spend money on the children’s play parks. They used to be owned by Tynedale Council and then they were handed to the town council.
“It’s now 15 years later and they now need proper investment. We need the money because they are so well-used.”
The increase will put an additional £60,000 for the town’s play parks into the council’s coffers. Conservative councillor Stephen Ball backed the move.
He said: “It’s a devil’s choice. It is exceptional circumstances – there has been extensive damage to the Sele children’s play park.
“It’s also a matter of principle – I have always voted against precept rises but on this occasion the costs of the council have increased dramatically over the last four years. In order to maintain the grants made available to community groups, the precept has to go up.
“I don’t want to be part of a town council that increases a precept by double figures and then has to cut back on community grants. I don’t want to be part of an austerity council.”
Labour’s Penny Grennan added: “It is indeed necessary. One of the strengths of the town council is we all have had to work together because nobody has a majority.
“We have had real difficulty with vandalism at the Sele. Instead of patching things up we probably need to replace the whole park, which is the reason why we have decided to increase the precept by a greater percentage than normal.
“When we were elected four years ago, we were at the bottom of the list in terms of how much money we had coming in. We are still not at the top, but we are nearer to towns like Morpeth.
“For the size of the town, the precept needed to be higher.”
Liberal Democrat councillor Suzanne Fairless Aitken, who represents the Hexham East ward on the county council, also backed the move.
She said: “We have inherited the play parks and they’re in an awful state. We are trying to be a responsible council.
“It’s a lot of money we need to find. We want to get across why we are doing it.”
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