Parish council proposals will force shake-up at Eastleigh (From Daily Echo)

Parish council proposals will force shake-up at Eastleigh

2:49pm Thursday 4th February 2010 in

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THE creation of two new parish councils could spark a shake-up of services at a Hampshire authority.

Cabinet members at Eastleigh Borough Council will tonight be voting on plans that could see the amount Eastleigh Town residents pay them go up by 18.6 percent – £30 across the year.

Meanwhile, Allbrook and Chandler’s Ford residents will see the amount they pay the authority go down as they will no longer be subsidising the town centre.

Historically, these three were the only areas without parish councils and therefore covered the cost of services equally even though most of them were based in Eastleigh town centre.

Residents covered by the two new authorities will no longer have to shell out for Eastleigh’s Christmas lights or pay to maintain their neighbour’s public toilets and parks.

The basic tax will go up by 2.8 per cent to £104.81 and then each area will pay special expenses depending on the facilities each area has and how they are maintained. Then where appropriate they will also pay a parish council precept.

Most parts of the borough will see an increase of under £10 across the year.

If the cabinet vote in favour of the proposal it will go before full council later this month to be rubber-stamped.

At this point other authorities would have calculated their precepts and the exact council tax people will be paying can be set.