Council tax freeze and £1million boost for town facilities for 2022?

AN overhaul of Melksham’s parks, the reopening of all town centre public  toilets, and a new town-wide ‘sophisticated’ CCTV system, are some of the projects that could be delivered in the next two years if the town council backs a plan to borrow up to £1million. 

And if the council chooses to support the plan to borrow up to £1million from the Public Works Loan Board – which could be drawn in stages as each town council project is realised – it has been proposed that the town council does not increase its precept – the proportion of Council Tax paid to the town council – for 2022/23. 

The loan of up to £1million and precept freeze, known as ‘option three’, is one of three budget options that has been presented to the town council as part of its 2022/23 budget discussions. 

It is has been proposed that across the next 18 months to two years, the loan could help deliver the  refurbishment of the town’s play areas – costing up to £500,000; the reopening of both the Bath Road and Church Street public toilets and the refurbishment of the Market Place toilet; a town-wide ‘sophisticated’ CCTV system with a central control room; and an extension, including new public toilets, of the King George V park pavilion. 

The £1million loan would include the £200,000 that the town council has already agreed to borrow for the construction of the new amenities’ depot in King George V park. 

The idea has been championed by mayor cllr Jon Hubbard as a ‘great opportunity’ to ‘deliver’ for the town, that in his opinion has been ‘starved of investment’ for the past 10 years. 

But other councillors have labelled the idea of a loan as “going too far, too fast” and have called for more groundwork to be done before considering the possibility. 

“This council has talked about having a raft of ambitions over quite a period of time, but we’ve never really had enough money to deliver everything we’ve wanted to do,” said cllr Hubbard at last month’s Finance, Administration and Performance Committee. 

“It costs money to do things. This is a council that has talked about doing things for as long as I can remember. Here’s an opportunity to actually do something. Not push money around, not half do a job, actually do something and get it delivered.” 

Cllr Hubbard explained that by investing in the town and making the improvements, it would help the council to save money in other areas, such as costs to maintain and repair ‘tired and old’ play areas. 

“At face value, this sounds very scary and very challenging,” said cllr Hubbard. “But actually, the impact of this, in my opinion, is that we would see a saving to this council, even though you would be paying interest [on the loan].” 

Questioning the need for a loan, cllr Gary Cooke said that he felt savings could be made on how the town council currently spends its money and urged the council to “get it right before jumping in with both feet” before committing to a loan that would be repaid over 20 years – the equivalent of  five council terms. 

“I find it staggering that we want to spend 50% of £1million on play areas,” added cllr Cooke. 

The other two budget proposals are a ‘stand still’ budget (option one), that would restrict the council from moving forward with any projects, but would result in a precept decrease of £8.21 for a Band D property. 

And ‘option two’, an increase in the town council’s precept to allow it to deliver a number of projects – including play area improvements, new CCTV and opening Bath Road public toilets – resulting in a £17.84 increase for a Band D property. 

However, both options were criticised by cllr Sue Mortimer as being ‘not viable’ and called for a fourth option that is still ‘ambitious’ and can deliver on some projects, giving councillors a ‘real choice’. 

“I do feel that people have gone for option three as options one and two are not viable,” said cllr Mortimer. 

She also questioned moving forward with the plan without first consulting with local residents. 

At the meeting, councillors had been asked to agree on which of the three options for they would recommendation to full council for the 2022/23 budget.  

But due to the lack of agreement, it was instead agreed that cllr Mortimer meet with the town clerk and other councillors to prepare an ‘option four’ ahead of any further discussions about the budget. 

The town council is expected to continue its budget debate at next week’s full town council meeting on Monday 13th December, 7pm, at the Town Hall.