Council leaders have plans to increase tax to cover extra costs
BOSSES at Derbyshire Dales District Council are eyeing up a council tax increase of nearly 2.5% to cover extra spending on addressing climate change and the spiralling costs of kerbside waste collections.
The authority has proposed to increase its council tax share by 2.33%, which would see a band D property paying an extra 10p per week, or £5 per year.
No cuts to any of the council’s current services are being proposed as part of its budget, which has been published as part of a consultation phase beginning this month.
Councillors will meet on Thursday, 4 March to consider the proposals.
The increase in the tax paid by households will also help to build up a pot for what the authority is calling “financial uncertainties”.
These include the impact of Covid-19, especially shortfalls in business rates and fees, along with potential reviews of government grants and the value of the pound and inflation rates.
Although the district council collects council tax on behalf of other councils, the police and fire and rescue service, it only keeps and spends around 11% of the total on the services it provides.
Residents’ council tax will fund 33% of the Council’s £19-million revenue budget in the coming financial year, with sales, fees and charges (41%) being the biggest contributor, followed by Business Rates (15%) and Government Grants (11%).
If agreed by councillors, the rise in council tax will cover additional investment to meet the authority’s zero-carbon ambitions, which it hopes to fulfil by 2030. The money will also help to pay for additional investment in the upkeep of pavements, public areas and green spaces in the area’s towns and villages, by supporting its “Clean and Green” teams.
The council has also said it will use the taxes to invest in improving “digital service delivery” to customers.
And the council also needs to cover the cost of keeping up its waste and recycling collections, as its new waste contract is costing an additional £1.1-million per year.
This year the authority started charging £50 for garden waste collections, and 14,000 people have already signed up to an “early bird” scheme which discounted the annual fee to £35.
Derbyshire County Council has already agreed its budget, which will include a 2.5% increase in its council tax contribution to help fund adult social care.
The authority’s full council met last month to set its net budget for 202122 at £572.4m, and it was revealed the council would have to make savings of £72.8m over the next five years to continue to balance the books.
However, council bosses insisted they are in a “robust financial position” due to careful budgeting and sufficient extra funding from government to support extra spending due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Derbyshire Dales District Council’s spending proposals are available to read and comment on by visiting www.derbyshiredales.gov.uk/
BOSSES of the area’s biggest independent pub company have welcomed news that customers will be able to return to their beer gardens in April.
Berkeley Inns, which owns a cluster of rural pubs including the Cock Inn in Mugginton and the Black Cow at Dalbury Lees, says it is more than ready to welcome punters back to its outdoor areas, with a limited menu of food as well as drinks.
Following Monday’s government announcement, pubs which have outdoor space will be able to serve food and drinks in groups of up to six, or in two households.
Pubs without outside space will have to wait until May 17, when restrictions on indoor socialising are set to lift, but Berkeley Inns says bookings are already flying in for outdoor tables in April.
A spokesman said: “We are absolutely delighted to confirm that following the government’s announcement we now have some clarity over our future ability to reopen and serve our customers once more.
“Nothing gives us more pleasure than seeing our establishments buzzing with the sounds of community spirit.
“It’s been such a dark and distressing time for so many, with this promise of hope we can shine some light on the future ahead now and look forward positively to welcoming our wonderful customers back to our establishments starting from the 12th of April.”
THE area’s NHS heroes are still storming through the vaccination cohorts, with more than 40% of the local adult population now immunised against Covid-19.
According to the latest data, almost all patients in the top four tiers are now immunised and the majority of patients in the next three tiers, which include 16 to 64-year-olds with underlying conditions, have also had jabs.
All residential care home patients and health and social care workers in the area have been vaccinated, along with 99% of people aged over 75, who make up some of the most important groups.
And according to Hannage Brook Medical Centre in Wirksworth, which is overseeing the area’s vaccine rollout, 74% of people at high risk or aged between 70 and 74 are now vaccinated.
The figures also show that 92% of people aged 65 to 69 have had jabs, and 57% of people aged between 16 and 64 with underlying conditions have been given their first dose of the vaccine.
Derbyshire as a whole is still leading the way when it comes to the vaccination programme, and health chiefs say the success is down to close working with GPS and local authorities, and the huge efforts of staff and volunteers.
William Jones is the vaccination programme lead for Derbyshire and is chief operating officer at the Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust.
He said: “We are very pleased with the way the Derbyshire NHS system has worked tooverall, gether to be able to maximise the number of vaccines that we have been able to give to the priority groups in Derby and Derbyshire.
“We are all of us fed up, and it is having an impact on us all, of the lockdown.
“The way out of the lockdown is for us all to work and cooperate together to get everybody who needs to be vaccinated, vaccinated.
“I look forward, like everybody else does, for a time in the summertime where we will be able to get out and about, and getting out and about will be a direct result of the successful vaccination programme in Derbyshire, the Midlands and the whole of the country.”
Mr Jones described the vaccine roll-out as a “marathon, not a sprint” but that it prowave vided “light at the end of the tunnel”.
On Monday Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his “roadmap” out of lock-down a process he said would be “irreversible.”
Schools will reopen on March 8, followed five weeks later with shops, hairdressers, pub beer gardens and self-contained holiday lets on April 12. By May 17 he hopes to be able to reopen all pubs, restaurants and hotels, along with some sports venues, as the rule of six is brought back in. International travel might restart on this date.
By June 21 he hopes the country could get back to normal, with social-distancing restrictions finally lifted and large events finally restarting. Funerals and weddings would also be able to go ahead unrestricted.
VILLAGERS in Hartington have helped to convert a forgotten corner of their historic village hall into a community hub.
Using a grant of nearly £1,500 the stone building known as The Lower Bakehouse, which is linked to the 90-year-old Hartington Village Hall, was transformed from a storage room.
Using the money from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, in partnership with the National Lottery, Community Fund, volunteers set to work refurbishing the building, turning the ground floor into a community space.
The project involved stripping plasterwork, decorating the walls and building bookshelves.
The first floor now houses a meeting room and a large collection of historical resources about the community.
The cash boost has also enabled the installation of computer workstations, more bookcases, a coffee table, heater and projection facilities.
Keith Quine, who has been involved with the project, said: “We are so proud that the community hub at the Lower
Bakehouse is now a warm and friendly space for villagers to meet for a chat over a cup of tea, to browse magazines or access IT facilities – when it is safe to do so, of course.
“This new space will benefit well-established groups such as Hartington Young Peoples Activity Club (HYPAC) and the History Group. Recently, the community Facebook page has seen considerable interest in the posting of images from the halcyon days of the Cheese Factory, as well as other buildings in and around the village.
“One new opportunity will be for villagers with long memories to view these and other resources in comfort, and to build on the social history of the community.
“We hope that residents who do not have IT facilities will become increasingly familiar with the technology and, with the support of members of Digital Hartington, become able to use IT for a range of purposes such as using Zoom to have regular contact with distant family members.
“None of this would have been possible without the involvement of volunteers who have given their time and expertise to bring about the transformation of a neglected space, together with the numerous families who have donated books and CDS.
“My sincere thanks to everyone involved.” To find out more about the project, visit www.hartingtonvillage.com
We hope residents will become able to use Zoom to have contact with distant family members. Keith Quine