Somerset Council Financial Emergency

Message from Kevin Ferriday, Chairman, Nether Stowey Parish Council

Dear villagers

You may have heard that Somerset Council has declared a “Financial Emergency” and are therefore looking at all the services they provide to see where they can save money to try and avoid going bankrupt.

Somerset Council has written to all Town and Parish Councils listing all those services which they think may be affected.  It is very possible that some services will disappear or be reduced (for example grass cutting of public areas, the emptying of dog bins, recycling centres, etc).

In a nutshell, they are trying to find out whether the various Parish Councils would be willing to take over some of those services (at the parish councils’ costs) or pay a contribution to Somerset Council for them to carry on providing those services.

Nether Stowey Parish Council anticipated some of these problems and over the past few years has put money aside so that inevitable increases to the Parish Council’s part of the Council Tax would be spread over a couple of years.

Somerset Council’s planned cutbacks in services will affect us all and we will therefore be forming a working group which will analyse the services that will be affected and make recommendations to the Parish Council. 

We would therefore like you to read and consider the letter from Somerset Council which includes the list of services.  This can be seen on the Parish Council website (https://netherstowey-pc.gov.uk/somerset-council) or you can pop into the Parish Council office and collect a paper copy.  You may have ideas and suggestions about a way forward. We would welcome your thoughts either by e-mail (scwg@netherstowey-pc.gov.uk) or again, by visiting our Parish Council office for a chat.  Or maybe you feel that you would like to join our working group which will be looking at what we may be able to take on and the implications for the Parish precept?

Please do not ignore this letter, this is going to affect you and we are keen to hear your ideas.

We look forward to hearing from you!

 

Kevin Ferriday
Chairman