TETBURY Town Council's budget is set to rise by 6.2 per cent, but residents paying council tax will be protected from the whopping rise.

The town council is planning to increase its budget from £277,670 this financial year (ending March 31) to £295,000 in 2018/19.

But due to the rise in the number of households in Tetbury, a Band ‘D’ household will only be paying an extra £2.16, or 1.75 per cent in council tax, which will be £125.62.

The council will be holding a public consultation at 6pm on Monday, January 22 at Tetbury Town Council offices to discuss its draft budget.

The views of the town council’s finance and scrutiny committee, and any comments arising from the consultation event will be relayed to the full council when it makes the final decision on Monday, January 29.

A breakdown of the draft budget reveals that the town council is looking to install CCTV in the town centre, following calls from concerned shopkeepers last year over a rise in burglaries.

The proposal for the project is to phase in £30,000 over two years. Alternatively, the town council has indicated that it could look for cheaper options.

Councillor Stephen Hirst, mayor of Tetbury, said: “The Town Council is always careful with public money to ensure good value-for-money services so, after converting the Goods Shed to create a terrific new Arts Centre last year, we were looking to reduce Tetbury Town Council’s element of the Council Tax, but we have the opportunity to help on a number of important town projects.

"In particular, we would like to assist the Dolphins Hall with their rebuild and refurbishment project in 2018 – if they can’t get something off the ground by 31st December the town could lose £225,000 of Community money held by the Hall Committee.

"We are also looking at options for installing a CCTV scheme and we have ring-fenced funding to assist with a building to be used by a Pre-School or Nursery, which is something the town has urgent need of.  We also intend to proceed with the new burial ground.” 

Councillor Tony Walsh, chair of the finance and community committee, added: “A lot of hard work has gone into this Draft Budget, which has been compiled with a guiding principle of minimising the effect on the Taxpayer while delivering Best Value for the town.

"Our proposals will allow us the funds to deliver a number of essential and exciting projects for only £2.16 more this year.”

The draft budget also reveals plans to increase the town council’s office hours to full time as the office currently operates 9am-3pm hours, Monday to Friday.

Additionally, There are plans to improve the town council’s website, with £1,500 to be spent on the project in the next financial year.

In 2018/19, there could be increased spending on building repairs/maintenance, from £3,903 to £20,000, an additional £10,500 could be spent on highways, and more money could be allocated to heritage and regeneration projects, with spending planned to increase from £5,053 to £10,000.

Other local projects will be funded by council reserves. These include a new burial ground (in response to the lack of burial spaces in town) and additional pre-school provision (after The Stable Nursery was closed by Ofsted and with Puddle Ducks in the Dolphins Hall facing relocation).