Council Budget

Holmes Chapel Parish Council can only spend, raise or use money if it has a statutory power to do so. It has a wide range of powers under different acts of Parliament, most of which are discretionary. The exercise of these powers may depend on other bodies, for example, the owner of land or another public body such as the highways authority. Almost all the powers of Holmes Chapel Parish Council may be exercised by either the Parish Council or the Borough Council.

Holmes Chapel Parish Council raises money by precept (a mandatory demand) on Cheshire East Council. The precept required is then collected by the Borough Council as part of the Council Tax levied on tax payers in the parish.

Holmes Chapel Parish Council has to prepare a budget in January each year for the ensuing financial year which runs from 1 April to 31 March.

The budget fixed in January 2009 for the year 2010 /11 is summarised on the right. A full outline of the budget can be downloaded here .

Report on the 2010/ 11 Budget

When the Parish Council met in January 2009 to set the budget for 2009/10, it was with the knowledge that significant changes would be made to local government in Cheshire on 1 April 2009; and that the Parish Council had made conscious decisions over a period of time to expand its capabilities. The overriding significance arising from the transfer of power from Cheshire County Council and Congleton Borough Council to Cheshire East Council is that the area of the Council is now much larger (because it takes in also the former Boroughs of Crewe & Nantwich and Macclesfield). The ratio of Councillors per head of population is now much less in terms of Councillors and much more in terms of population.

Consequently Local Councils in the area, particularly those with Quality status, which Holmes Chapel is working to attain, were expected to have greater influence in financial and other terms and there is the possibility of some powers being delegated to them so that the discretion mentioned above will need to be exercised more often.

With this in mind the Council had opened its office at 1 Church Walk in 2008; the Clerk's hours had been increased and an Assistant had been appointed to work 9 hours per week. A new committee system had been introduced and there are more frequent meetings over six week cycles.

When the budget preparation process started in the latter part of 2008, members had been conscious of the serious economic situation in the country at large and made a decision that budget increases should be kept as low as possible for the new financial year. This meant that the amount the Council could provide for future capital schemes was not as high as originally anticipated. Furthermore a lot of sources of grant funding and other schemes, which would supply funding, had slowed down.

At the Council meeting on 8 January 2009, the Council approved the budget, adopted it as their financial plan for 2009/10 and declared a precept of £69,940 (an increase of only 3.4% from the 2008/9 figure of £66,527).

When the Council met on 7 January 2010, the economic situation of the country was an even greater concern, with members most concerned about the personal circumstances of many local people and the possibility that any increase in the precept could cause personal hardship to some. With this in mind it was resolved to keep the precept at the same level as last year (£69,940) the first time, for some years, that there had not been any increase.

Unfortunately, there will be a further slowdown in planned achievements, but this is the reality the whole country has to face.

As the year progresses there will be inevitable changes to the figures. The Finance Committee will meet on a quarterly basis and, on these occasions, will review the budget and update it where necessary.

The budget fixed in January 2010 for the year 2010/11 is summarised on the right. A full outline of the budget can be downloaded here.

A copy of the Council's five year plan, which has now been updated can be downloaded here.