General Information/Budgets/Allowances

Wychavon Annual Budget:    With the current credit crisis, we all understand that money is going to be tight across the board and no local authority is immune from this. Many councils are really against the wall this year with lower government grant increases, fewer planning applications and lower interest on savings and I believe the belt tightening will continue for some time.  Thankfully, Wychavon Council has been careful with your money over the years and concentrated on giving value for money in services rather than spending money on other non-essential things. 

We have had a recent windfall from the collection of single person council tax refunds and we feel it is only fair to pass this on to the council tax payer in lower council tax demands.  Wychavon has therefore reduced its council tax this year to 1.94% instead of the 2.5% originally envisaged.   That is not to say the Council is not proposing to make savings in areas that will have little or no impact on residents or the important services you pay for.   We already work close to the bone on most things, and so this has meant some hard choices, but we have come up with proposed savings that will not affect our services to a significant degree.

The Council confirmed its 2010/11 budget at its last Council meeting.  The current Wychavon element of the council tax for a band 'D' property will be £108.44 from April 2010.

Wychavon Councillors decided that they would prefer not to become a Unitary Authority but to keep the 'Local' emphasis on our services to residents whilst saving money.  However, the alternative is to go down the 'Shared Services' route where we combine with other interested local councils to enable us to reduce managerial and administrative costs.  This is already working well with the Revenues and Benefits section (based at Wychavon offices) covering Wychavon, Malvern Hills and Worcester City districts.   We have also done this with Building Control and are currently doing the same with IT.   At a recent Council meeting Wychavon decided to create a 'Worcestershire Enhanced Two-Tier' Service for Regulatory Services - which, in simple terms covers Environmental Health and Licensing (District); Trading Standards (County).  When this is up and running, the customers should find this much easier as they can then expect a visit to their premises from one trained officer as opposed to two or three!  This will be the first of its kind in the country, but we anticipate the economic benefits to be significant.   

Councillors' Allowances:

Since being elected, I have been asked on a number of occasions whether I am paid for being your District Councillor.  Although I wasn't told when I went into this, I found after being elected that Councillors do receive an allowance.  Councillors' remuneration is published annually in the local newspapers, but, in the interests of transparency, I am perfectly happy for anyone to know what allowance I receive as a District Councillor.  These are decided by an 'Independent Remuneration Panel' who follow accepted national criteria for local authority member allowances and are based on an average 11 hours council work per week with an expectation of 40% volunteer time. As such the basic allowance as at 1st April 2010 is the same as last year at £4,200 per annum gross.

There is also a Special Responsibility Allowance which is £6,300 gross, for those with portfolios, e.g. Chairman of Development Control, Leader of the Council and Executive Board Members, of which I am currently one.   This reflects the extra work load on those particular Members.

Councillor's Expenses:

This is particularly topical at this time!

Councillors are entitled to claim travelling and subsistence when on specific council business only, but not on any constituency business. 

I have not been in the habit of claiming any expenses at all while on council business.   If I have to go to London on the train, I usually ask for a warrant card purchased directly by the department concerned, so before tax, my total gross income as a District Council Executive Board Member is currently as stated above.  I try hard to avoid things that have fees attached, e.g. certain conferences, unless they are likely to affect/improve things for residents in Wychavon, such as flooding, and where I can have a high level impact on your behalf.   However, if I find due to changes in my portfolio which take me further afield on a more regular basis, say, to a regional centre,  I do reserve the right to claim travelling costs if I deem it necessary.   I will of course keep you posted if this is the case, but at the moment I do not choose to claim expenses.

I have been working for a minimum of 60 hours per week, 50 weeks of the year, usually starting at 7am and stopping at 9pm depending upon evening Council/Parish Council meetings etc.  

I enjoy what I do and one has to accept that one cannot fit this kind of work into a 9-5 day, 5 days per week. 

Surgeries:  Since I started, I have not found residents banging any of the village hall doors down to talk to me about issues of concern, and most people know where to find me if they have an issue they wish to discuss.  However, I still feel they are a good way to hear what you would like to see happening in Wychavon or your community, so when the better weather comes I will start up again - I will list them on my website and on village notice boards, and invite you to come if you wish to talk to me about anything relating to Council business.  I hope to get around to see as many of you as possible individually in the next few months.