2021-2022 Parish Council Budget Explained

At its’ meeting on Monday 4^th January, Gravenhurst Parish Council agreed to request a precept of £26,575 for the financial year 2021-2022 to assist in funding it’s approved budget for the financial year starting April 2021.  In the February copy of the Grapevine, we explained how the precept forms part of the overall council tax payable by residents and also how it will be used to together with grant applications and funds secured from developers to support our planned expenditure.

Since publication of the article, we have received a number of questions and queries regarding our higher cost planned expenditure and exactly where the money will come from.  Please find below an explanation.

Planned expenditure for 2021-2022 includes:

• £78,000 on new play equipment at the Recreation Ground.
  • Last year our Clerk won a new piece of equipment and chose to donate it to Gravenhurst and we carried out repairs to many other items. That said new play equipment is needed to replace some of the older items on site but also to provide play opportunities for children aged 7+.
  • £75k will come directly from the developers of the Oakridge site (of Orchard Close) via s106* funding.
  • £3k will come from Parish Council reserves. This reserves pot has been added to each year since April 2018 specifically for new play equipment and improvements to play on the Recreation Ground.
• £12,000 on gym equipment at the Recreation Ground
  • Outdoor gym equipment is planned for installation on the Recreation Ground partly in response to residents’ comments received from the Neighbourhood Plan questionnaire and in a bid to encourage diverse use of the area.
  • £12k in funding is available from the developers of the Oakridge via s106 funding, however we are currently pursuing grant opportunities to part fund the expenditure (keep some for later use) or permit additional spending.
• £2,120 on upgrading street lighting
  • Since 2018 the Parish Council has carried out a 5-year planned upgrade of street lighting in order to comply with EU legislation, replace out of date lights for which replacements are no longer available and to assist in reducing monthly electricity costs for lighting. All parish council owned street lights will be upgraded by the end of March 2023.
  • £2,120 will come directly from precept funds.
• £5,000 on speed reduction measures on Clophill Road
  • This project was approved by Central Bedfordshire Council in 2018 who are bearing the majority of the cost. Whilst we refer to it as speed reduction measures on Clophill Road the project also included speed monitoring costs for all village roads in 2018 and repainting of dragon’s teeth and 30mph roundels at all village entrances.
  • £5,000 has been set aside in parish council reserves since 2018 to pay for this project
• £2,500 on allotment maintenance and improvements
  • Redevelopment of the allotments was started in 2019 however clearance of the site is costly and so has been planned over a 3 year period. Improvement plans in addition to clearance are now taking shape and we hope to share these with residents in the near future.
  • £2,500 will come directly from precept funds.

We hope that this answers some of your questions but if you do have any queries please do contact us by emailing us at clerk@gravenhurst-pc.gov.uk

Alessandra Marabese – Clerk to Gravenhurst Parish Council

*Section 106 Funding is paid by developers of 10 dwellings or more and is allocated to identified community and social infrastructure capital projects e.g.: village hall enhancements and new play park equipment. S106 contributions are considered in addition to highways s278 contributions in mitigating the impact of unacceptable development to make it acceptable in planning terms. Contributions from a site can be allocated to more than one village project.