Parish Chairman’s Notes
The most recent meeting of the parish council on 16th December approved the budget for the coming year and the portion of residents’ council tax that is used by the Parish Council to run its services. This is known as the Parish Precept and covers the cost of the services run by the parish including the recreation ground, the allotments, the public toilets, and other responsibilities. In recent years, the parish council has also accessed funding to improve parish facilities such as the outdoor gym which opened in November, this has helped keep costs down. The precept for a Band D household in 2025-6 is expected to be £104.25 a year collected by TWBC as part of your Council Tax. This is a rise of 14.4% almost entirely caused by the need to establish a fund to refurbish or replace the Village Hall.
The Village Hall Working Group (made up of parish councillors and Trustees of the CCA) had its first meeting in December and at the time of writing was due to meet on January 9th. A temporary repair has been made to the roof which it is hoped will allow the Hall to continue to be used for the next 18 months or so. Meanwhile, the job of the Working Party is to decide its future and how this will be funded as well as the future relationship between the Parish Council and the CCA who are responsible for running the hall. The fist task is to design and put out a questionnaire to seek the views of residents on the future of the building and the form of any refurbishment or rebuilding. We welcome any resident would like to help in this process by being part of the working party or offer professional help or advice. If you can help, please contact clerk@capelparish.gov.uk for further information.
The next scheduled meeting of the Parish Council is on Monday February 24th at 7:30 [Planning Committee at 7:00] and as always is open to all residents to attend.
Hugh Patterson