Impasse on paying for parishes
A TEMPORARY deadlock has been reached over the thorny issue of how parish councils should be funded. Parishes do not yet want any further changes to the concurrent func- tions grant that Maidstone Bor- ough Council has paid to them for many years. But MBC is adamant that a service level agreement (SLA) should replace the current sys- tem, which is based on a per capita formula. That grant was cut by 30% this
year. The borough, under severe financial constraints, had origi- nally wanted to do away with the grant completely but bowed to
Housing scheme improvements
GOLDING Homes has in- vested almost £46,000 at TheAllens sheltered hous- ing scheme in Marden over the past four year. Improvement works in-
clude external landscap- ing of the paved area by the historic water pump, refurbishment of the day centre and, most recently, work to the shared gar- dens and pathways. To mark theworks com- pletion, parish council chairman Cllr Dorothy Reed opened the new African-style gazebo.
pressure from the parishes. The borough also agreed to a comprehensive review of the funding process. However, the review group has failed to
MAIDSTONE Borough Council’s total budget for concurrent functions grant in 2010-11 was £424,000 for the 35 parishes. The level of grant paid to parishes ranged from £3,521 (East Sutton) to £47,011 (Boxley), with an average of £12,105. The formula used was a fixed amount to each parish (£2,261) plus a per capita payment of £6 based on the elec- toral register. The grant’s main purpose is to avoid “double taxation” where
the costs of a certain service are charged twice to local taxpay- ers because the parish provides a service but the borough still charges parishioners (via its universal council tax) for the equivalent services it provides in unparished areas.
breaks £50k barrier FORMER Kent and England cricketer Mar- tinMcCague (left) and his pal RickMackay were among 75 golfers who helped fundraisers to achieve a £50,000 target. The golf day was organised by Headcorn Imbibers to mark the 10th anniversary of raising money for the Heart of Kent Hos- pice in Aylesford. The Stableford rules competition helped to push the total through the £50,000 barrier. Martin, who lives in Charing Heath, and
Rick, from Downswood, had just returned from a holiday in Portugal with their fam- ilies on the day of the event. They managed to grab a few hours’ sleep before teeing off at the Weald of Kent Club. Jay Bray and Paul Hughes were the main organisers.
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make the hoped-for progress. This was re- ported to an extraordinary meeting of the Kent Association of Local Councils (KALC), attended by representatives of two- dozen councils at Maidstone Town Hall. The meeting heard talks had broken down because the Cabi- net member for community services, Cllr John Wilson, in- sisted there was no alternative to a proposed parish services scheme – an SLA between Maid- stone and the parishes. KALC secretary Cllr Clive English described the proposed SLA as “incredibly bureau- cratic” and also excluded “huge
swathes” of what is covered at present by concurrent func- tions.
Parish representatives de-
cided it would be premature to introduce an SLA given its com- plexity, the need to clarify nu- merous issues and the as-yet unknown ramifications of Gov- ernment plans for local author- ity funding and its localism agenda. The meeting agreed that it did
not rule out the concept of an SLA but wished to see the exist- ing concurrent functions scheme continue for 2012-13. It was further resolved that, in
the interim, a pilot study should be conducted with the help of Bredhurst and Staplehurst parish councils.
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