Impasse on paying for parishes
A TEMPORARY deadlock has been reached over the thorny issue of how parish councils should be funded. Parishes such as Barming and Tovil do not
yet want any further changes to the concurrent functions grant that Maidstone Borough Council has paid to them for many years. ButMBC is adamant that a serv-
ice level agreement (SLA) should replace the current system, 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
PLAYERS at Hollingbourne Cricket Club hardly know the meaning of defeat. Their senior and junior teams
have each won - or very nearly won - titles, cups and competi- tions this season. Chairman Andy Griffiths said:
"2011 has been a great year for the club in many ways and every team has performed well throughout the season." The roll of honour includes:
1st XI - unbeaten champions, Kent Regional League 1ACentral division
2nd XI (pictured) - champions, Kent Regional League 2AEast di- vision
Sunday XI - 3rd in Kent Village
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 electoral 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.
Cricket club celebrates a near-perfect season
League Divi- sion 3
U13s - 3rd in Weald of Kent Junior League
U11s - un- beaten champions, Weald of Kent League and cup finalists
U9s - runners-up, Kent Cricket Board'sSuper 8s'Maidstone clus- ter.
Four members of the U13 team
- Lewis Bedwell, Tom Lennard, Joe Deveson and Freddie Ellis - also played their part for the Sun- day senior
side.MrGriffiths said: "In addition to on-the-field activ-
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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 Cabinet member for community services, Cllr John Wilson, insisted there was no alternative to a proposed parish services scheme – an SLA between Maidstone and the parishes. KALC secretary Cllr Clive Eng-
lish described the proposed SLA as “incredibly bureaucratic” and
also excluded “huge swathes” of what is covered at present by concurrent functions. Parish representatives de-
ity, the club delivered 10 weeks of cricket coaching to about 200 boys and girls at Hollingbourne, Madginford and Kingswood pri- mary schools." The club is looking for players
for next season as well as two umpires and
twoscorers.Contact
andy.griffiths@holling-
bournecc.co.uk
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. Themeeting agreed that it did
not rule out the concept of an SLA but wished to see the ex- isting 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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