Melksham residents are set to lose out on some of the promised improvements to town facilities next year says a member of the town council, cllr Jon Hubbard.
The council met online to set the town precept (the proportion of council tax which is paid to the town council ) last week. But following the decision, cllr Hubbard said that councillors had elected to redirect money from earmarked reserves to prop up their budget. At the meeting, cllr Hubbard had proposed combining two of the council’s staff teams, saying the council could find savings of £100,000. (See story on Front Page).
During the meeting cllr Hubbard told the council, “We have to be honest with ourselves and our residents about the situation that this council is in. We are today looking to set a budget that commits this council to spending over £1million and we don’t have the income to cover it.
The council voted to reject the proposal. Cllr Hubbard says, “Instead, they will be using £125,000 from its reserves to plug the gap in the budget. As a result the new play areas at Primrose Drive, Dorset Crescent and Riverside Drive will now be scrapped together with a cut in spending on public toilets, cultural projects in the town, funding for the new Shurnhold Fields facility and a wealth of salami sliced cuts on other projects.
“Had the council agreed to my proposal last night we could have kept the town council’s share of the council tax bill paid by residents at the same level as last year, and still delivered the new play areas across our community and not had to cut or scrap other projects.
“Instead, our residents will have to pay extra tax, whilst seeing services and facilities cut.”
