Council tax payers in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin have seen their bills soar by more than £300 over the past five years, the Shropshire Star can reveal today.There are renewed calls in the county for the current system of funding council services to be scrapped because it is unfair to the less well off.
The biggest cash demand is in south Shropshire. Householders will face a total levy this year on “average” Band D properties of £1,505.36.
It includes county, district and parish council taxes as well as those from the police and fire authorities.
But figures obtained by the Shropshire Star show that since 2003/04 the overall bill for the banding in south Shropshire has risen £320 from £1,185.28.
The second highest amount will be paid in Oswestry at £1,495.85 (up £306 over five years) followed by north Shropshire £1,464.28 (up £309), Bridgnorth £1,434,26 (up £305), and Shrewsbury and Atch- am £1,425.31 (up £303).
In Telford & Wrekin - a unitary authority - the overall Band D tax bill will be £1,351.64 - an increase of £304.82 since 2003/04.
The highest council tax demand will be on Band H homes in south Shropshire at £3,010.72. The lowest amount to be paid will be on Band A properties in Telford & Wrekin at £901.08.
A fortnight ago Lib Dem county councillor Roger Evans failed to persuade the authority to adopt a proposal to freeze tax increases for the less well-off.
But today he pledged to continue campaigning to get the system overturned, which he said was not linked to ability to pay. His party is calling for a Local Tax, which would not be based on what it claims to be outdated valuations of property.
Councillor Evans said: “We must have a fairer system. The current system of council tax bandings doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t equate to the services that people actually use and doesn’t reflect the income going into a house.”
Tory county council lead- er Malcolm Pate today defended the rise, saying it would lead to investment in services for vulnerable people and other improvements.
Telford & Wrekin Council leader Andrew Eade said people had given the budget their broad support.
9 Comments
Should anybody be that surprised ? It is a common theme around the UK I would have thought !!!
Have these councils heard of “breaking point” because mine and probably that of many other residents are fast approaching.
Then the councils will get nothing because there will nothing left to give.
Meanwhile Telford & Wrekin can afford to spend over £100,000 a year of our money on their private limited company “Transforming Telford” which includes among its activities sponsoring a “Transforming Telford Breakfast” at a property conference in Cannes this month.
I agree with John (post number two)
More tax and abysmal services that only gets worse.
How much more must we take?
remember at the next elections to vote ‘non of the above’ then maybe we can start again and rid ourselves of the dross.
it’s time to stop these crazy pay rises,telford coucil tax money only to be spent on telford people not
some pc over seas projects,ince they’ve fleeced us of every spare penny then it’s going to be a hard time for us all here in the telford area ,jobs are dieing left right and centre,20% of the shops in the centre up for lease,i just might refuse to pay that extra rip off cost the coucil want until i see what im getting for my hard earned money and i suggest every other good taxpaying resident do the same,where’s our money going.
But look at all the extra services we have…..no i’m lying, i made that up!!
No doubt they will need an extra couple of million pounds to fund an investigation into how inefficient everything is, followed by an investigation of the investigators!!
All that money for street sweeping once a week and a fortnightly bin emptying service!!!
Why aren’t we funding proper recycling schemes, and addressing local issues??
I wonder if the people of Telford & Wrekin would be interested in the following extract from our Muchtars (Mayors)six monthly address in our village Municipality newsletter (in Cyprus)?
” It is with great pleasure that I inform villagers in Kouklia that as a result of the determined efforts and hard work of Municipality staff, council tax for the period January 2008 to January 2009 will be reduced from €134.64(£cyp78.80) to €126.65 (£cyp74.12).
An additional benefit to all Kouklia villagers is that our street cleaning and disinfecting service will with effect from April be extended from twice weekly to three time weekly.
Finally I am grateful for all villagers kind comments concerning our revised refuse collection service which now operates twice weekly in an effort to minimise the amount of time that household waste is unattended with the onset of the hot weather.