Cirencester Town Council objects to proposals to require town and parish councils to hold referendums for two percent council tax increases

The proposals were announced earlier this year and Cirencester Town Council will be responding to a consultation launched last month by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

Currently, the referendum principle applies to shire counties, unitary authorities, fire authorities, and Police and Crime Commissioners, except those with the lowest precepts.

District councils are allowed increases of less than 2 per cent or up to and including £5, whichever is higher.

Plans to introduce referendum principles, similar to that of district councils, to parish and town councils were made after it was revealed that the average increase in Band D council tax set by parishes for 2016/17 was 6.1 per cent, the highest increase in the past five years.

DCLG wrote in their consultation paper: “We believe there is a strong argument in favour of extending referendums to those larger parishes whose precept is equivalent in size to that of a district council.”

Referendum principles could be applied to town and parish councils whose Band D tax levels is higher than that of the lowest charging district council for 2016/17 (£75.46), and who have a total precept for 2016/17 of at least £500,000.

Around 120 of England’s town and parish councils are highly likely to be affected in the next financial year. According to Cirencester Town Council chief executive Andrew Tubb, the town council would be one those 120.

DCLG also made clear that they would consider extending referendums to all parishes as “the government is aware that increases in these precepts continue to concern local taxpayers”.

Speaking at a Cirencester Town Council meeting on Tuesday, October 11, chief executive Mr Tubb told councillors that a local referendum would cost £25,000 in Cirencester.

He explained: “We’ve increased our budget to deliver the town centre regeneration scheme as well as other projects that we’ve received support from the public for. Our medium financial plan also had to be submitted to DCLG for approval before we could borrow.

“In my personal view, a referendum would not be unfair when talking about a precept in excess of £1million and a population in excess of 20,000.

“In Cirencester, we could write to every single resident in this parish and give them a questionnaire and a freepost envelope which would only cost a few hundred pounds to get the same answer as a referendum would give us.

“I would now go to DCLG and negotiate to say we accept the public should support, should be consulted, on precept increases, but saying there is a more cost-effective way - because that £25,000, the public will have to pay for.

(Andrew Tubb, chief executive at Cirencester Town Council)

“Timing is a practical implication. We have our budget in January, we then have to submit it to the precepting billing authority in February and the bills go on ready to collect from April onwards. Where does the time for a referendum come in between that?

“I appreciate that the reason the government is doing this is as a deterrent but you’ve got to see the unintended consequences of what is being intended.”

Town mayor Mark Harris (pictured below) responded: “What a shame that the government should be using democracy as a way to deter people from getting involved.

“It looks like it is written by an economics student that does not trust councils and local councils to make right decisions. It is deeply insulting.”

Cllr Deryck Nash said: “I just can’t quite work out the logic behind the argument.”

He suggested that town and parishes should be able to show any evidence that the majority of the elect is in support of a tax increase.

He also suggested that given Cotswold District Council have been generous in passing on some of their council tax support grant to parish and town councils, an exception should be extended to towns and parishes where the grant is withdrawn by the principal authority.

Cllr Patrick Coleman said: “It was a done idea introduced by for bad reasons and has no justification in terms of democracy, or finance, or justice or liberty.

“It is a political stunt. When it was launched to principal councils, it was backed up by a lot of grant to help them not go above two per cent.

“What was the original justification for these referendum ideas apart from being a political stunt to appease people who thought councils were by definition irresponsible?

“We are accountable through democracy and our people deserve the freedom to choose (if they wish) a higher council tax for higher services to compensate for cuts elsewhere without being told by the government ‘you must hold a referendum’.”

Deputy mayor Nigel Robbins (pictured above) agreed with chief executive Mr Tubb’s idea of a questionnaire. He said: “If you want informed response from people, you don’t send out a referendum and ask people to tick a box, you send out a questionnaire and ask people to comment.

“It is not just cheaper, we get informed responses that helps council make informed decisions.

“If you think about it, who is voluntarily going to welcome an increase in precept? Referendums are a very poor way of conducting a consultation.”