Town and parish councils to receive funding (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Town and parish councils to receive funding

7:40am Wednesday 16th January 2013 in W-Z

PARISH and town councils across the region are to receive funding from Wyre Forest District Council in the next financial year.

The district council has announced the distribution of £63,000 as part of the proposed parish localism fund worth £105,000.

The money will help parish councils keep their share of council tax down following the district council’s proposals to freeze their portion for the third year running.

Councillor Nathan Desmond, cabinet member for transformation and resources said: “I am pleased that we are able to provide this support to town and parish councils and the Kidderminster Charter Trustees.

“If the district council had not taken this action, local residents would have seen the parish council element of their council tax bills rise because of Government changes to the way in which local government is funded.”

In April, the Government will be replacing council tax benefit with locally-decided schemes of council tax discounts.

As a consequence of this change, the council tax base, which is used to calculate the amount of council tax that each household pays, has fallen by 15 per cent across Wyre Forest.

The funding is therefore being distributed in line with the changes in tax base.

Councillor John Campion, the leader of the district council, said: “We have included the parish localism fund in our budget proposals to support furthering the council’s aspirations for localism through joint working with the parish councils.

“The fund will also help to provide support for grass roots service delivery which reduces the cost to the tax payer. The cabinet will be considering how parish councils can access the balance of the fund shortly.”