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‘DEATH tax’ fears as Valley families facing huge funeral fee hikes. The council is planning to increase ‘bereavement service charges’ by hundreds of pounds (November 24)

David Foxcroft: Personally I think this is disgraceful. The council have wasted tax payers money on the AAAW saga (a final total still isn’t close to hand), a bus station that has received very vocal opposition, budgeted for money it didn’t have (Scout Moor Wind Farm) and now plans to make people pay for it in the most horrendous of ways. Funerals are not cheap, and are very rarely planned. Adding nearly £1,000 to the cost of a burial for a loved one is just insulting and

morally wrong. I really hope they see sense and stop passing the costs of their mistakes onto residents.

Steve Hughes: It’s fine saying it’s disgraceful David but it’s because of the disgraceful cuts from government that are forcing this council to consider decisions like this. This council will have lost £24million by 2020 – and you know that AAAW is irrelevant in this discussion as you can’t use capital spent/ reserves to prop up a revenue deficit. Why don’t you join me in writing to the Prime Minister and ask why there was no support for local authorities in #Budget2017 so decisions like this don’t have to be taken in the first place. One final point about the bus station, again, irrelevant given most the money for Spinning Point is monies from other sources such as the local growth fund – money that would be spent somewhere else in Lancashire if it wasn’t spent in #Rossendale. Wendy Ann Watters: Ok so if we all agree it is central gov that has caused the need. Please can you explain where the figures come from? The article says in order to maintain services there is this need for the increase. So are we to understand the council’s costs have also increased. If so where are the figures to show this? If residents were shown this is genuinely the case they would be less likely to see it as just a money making scheme for the council.