Headline

COUNCIL taxpayers in Kidmore End will pay £18 more for services provided by the parish council for the next year.

The parish council proposed raising their share of the council tax by 27 per cent to fund repairs to the pavilion and other projects.

At a meeting of the parish council on Wednesday, December 11, it was decided that the precept will be set at £60,000 per year starting from April 1, up from £47,000 in the current financial year.

This means that the typical Band D householder will pay £84.48 a year in council tax, equating to an increase of 35p per week.

The parish council said that it received roughly half of what the average parish or town council in South Oxfordshire received in the current financial year.

The council said it has suffered a real terms loss in its precept over the past two years with council tax increases capped at five per cent, which was short of inflation rates which reached as high as 11 per cent.

The council said that it needs “substantial” funds to bring the Diamond Jubilee Pavilion, which it built at the recreation ground off The Hamlet in 2011, up to standard.

Council chair Caroline Aldridge said that work is currently underway on the pavilion, but that the council needs to raise funds before other upgrades are carried out.

The sewerage treatment plant that services the pavilion is currently being repaired after work scheduled for September was postponed when problems were identified in the associated borehole.

She said: “There’s a bit of work that needs to be done as a result of wear and tear. The roof has a few round holes in the holes where cricket balls have hit it and the showers are all 14 years old, and there are a few other general things that need to be done.

“There are a few things that need to be sorted out sooner rather than later and then other work will be put on a maintenance schedule over a five-year period to maintain the building in the condition that it’s in.

“Sorting out the sewerage treatment plant is a priority and works are being done at the moment to sort that out.

“We are also going to use our community infrastructure funds and using that we’re going to tarmac the drive going into the pavilion as well as the carpark and that’s all going to be happening hopefully before April.”

A Grade II listed well which is located ?? also requires repairs as it has become unstable, which will be estimated to cost “a few thousand pounds”.

Mrs Aldrige said that the wood has started to rot in places and has sustained weather damage.

There are now ten parish councillors serving the Kidmore End Parish Council after a vacancy was filled by Georgina McCarter in September.

Ms McCarter moved to Gallowstree Common ??? and is concerned with the speed of traffic on Horsepond Road and will be advocating for measures to reduce speed in the parish.

The next council meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 19.