Dear Sir,
I have said many times before that double taxation is unfair and on this issue I agree with both the Liberal Democrats and Durham County Council (DCC) who also agree that double taxation is unfair. Where I disagree with the Liberal Democrats is that they are concerned with the 20p a week extra on their County Council tax (which perhaps would only enable them to buy a carrier bag). I do agree with DCC who in 2009 agreed that double taxation is unfair and awarded us an annual grant of £38,500. In 2012 DCC stopped the grant owing to the Conservative/Liberal Coalition Government’s austerity measures. Although attempts have been requested that DCC reviews the situation, these requests have been refused point blank. This has cost you, the rate payers, over £400,000 since 2012.
I was totally surprised on reading the article, by Liberal Democrats candidates on the coming elections, who propose that the Town Council takes on responsibilities for Highway Maintenance using the Council’s balances. This is extremely financially irresponsible.
• DCC is the Highways Authority who
receives funds, from Central Government,
to maintain our highways.
• It is beyond belief that candidates, seeking
to reduce double taxation, want you to
vote for triple taxation by taking on some
of DCC’s statutory duties.
• Anyone who knows the financial
regulations, of local authority finances,
should know that our Town Council is not
allowed to support any other council’s
revenue expenditure.
In the letter the candidates propose that the Town Council become involved in the provision of lay-bys and fences.
The land, in the estates concerned, are owned by DCC and Livin. The Town Council cannot carry out any work on their land. This would be like putting a public car park on the Liberal Democrat candidates’ front gardens.
In order to pay for these proposals the Liberal Democrats wish to raid our Town Council’s reserves. This money has been set aside against our medium-term financial plan. We normally spend approximately £250,000 a year on maintenance and improvements including play areas, parks, open spaces and our properties plus the purchasing of new vehicles, machinery and roofing works.
The medium-term financial plan identifies that we need to spend approximately 2 million pounds over the next few years and at the moment we have just over one million pound in reserves. Therefore, it would be totally foolish and financially irresponsible to raid our financial reserves as this would make us unable to meet our financial responsibilities.
We must consider that we will soon need to drain and clean out West Park lakes and restore the underwater structure. We can’t obtain any estimates for the cost of this work until the water has been drained. What we do know is that this will be extremely expensive.
The choice is yours on Thursday 6th May.
• Either you want an efficient, responsible Council or you can put the Liberal Democrats in charge of your money.
Bob Fleming
Chairman of Policy and Resources Committee.
