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Tendring: 50 per cent council tax rise to be 'one-off'

8:30am Monday 26th January 2009

By Frances Leate

HOUSEHOLDERS in a village will be forking out more cash after their parish council an-nounced the highest council tax rise in the Tendring district.

Weeley Parish Council plans to increase its precept by almost 50 per cent from April to raise an extra £17,000 during 2009/10.

It means all 819 taxpayers will be asked to pay £61.05 each to the authority over the course of the financial year – a rise of £20.

Council clerk Chris Finn said the move was a one-off and was necessary to fund the purchase of a building and surrounding land for a new community resource.

“It is not really a lot of money,” he said.

“The British Legion Club has half an acre of land and a building for sale after it closed last August, and I have put £15,000 aside as a stab in the dark as to how much it could cost if we were to acquire the building and land, because we have all sorts of plans for it.

“It is a one-off purchase, and if we don’t manage it we will keep the extra money for next year.”

The parish council has also agreed to keep funding Weeley’s police community support officer at a cost of about £15,000 per year.