Trowbridge considers council tax rise of more than £50

The likely rise in the town’s precept has been driven by the cost of taking over street cleaning, grass cutting and managing the Down Cemetery from Wiltshire Council, plus sharp rises in costs, particularly for electricity and gas.

If the draft plans are adopted, then a household in Council Tax Band D would see the tax paid to Trowbridge Town Council rise from around £220 per year this year to nearly £270 in 2024-25. 

Cllr Stewart Palmen, the leader of Trowbridge Town Council (Image: Freelancer)

Cllr Palmen said: “Times are tougher than we hoped they would be. Taking over street cleaning and grass cutting has been a big challenge but I am sure that it was the right thing to do.

“Wiltshire Council was increasingly struggling to provide the services as they have had their central government funding cut while the cost of social care – their biggest spending line – has been rising.

“We also struggled to start with and I want to apologise to residents who didn’t get a great service earlier this year., But we are improving. We have taken on more staff, bought new kit and updated our processes.

“It would have cost more to use an external contractor and so we are doing it with an in-house team.

“It’s a similar story with the Down Cemetery. It’s an important and challenging job to manage the cemetery well but residents deserve to have it done well. 

“We are also seeing double-digit rises in power and gas costs as we have come to the end of a fixed price contract and taken on a new supplier.     

“We could have offset these increased costs by making cuts. But our judgement is that people still want the facilities, services and events that we provide.

“We’re also pressing on with plans to install new toilets in the park and restore the bandstand. And, if it’s affordable, we want to build a new all-weather sports facility and clubhouse at Doric Park.

“We want to see a town people can be proud of and we won’t do that by cutting things. I think we need to be active in providing services, facilities and events for our community.

“Wiltshire Council is playing a part with the town centre improvements and planned leisure centre but a lot of the energy in the town needs to come from the town council.  

“We provide all this for around five pounds a week – and this increase will be less than £1 per week, around the cost of a pint of milk.

“I think people in Trowbridge realise that you get what you pay for. This tax is an investment in Trowbridge’s future.

“But there’s an election in 2025 when people can show whether they want to cut taxes and services or support investing in our town.”  

Earlier this year, Trowbridge staged a non-binding local referendum or ‘parish poll’ costing £24,396 aimed at limiting future precept tax rises by the town council to just three per cent.

It came about after the council’s Conservative group criticised the ruling Liberal Democrats for this year's 10.1 per cent rise in the town's part of Wiltshire’s Council Tax for 2023/24.

But the council’s chief executive and town clerk Lance Allan confirmed the result won't be binding as just 1.6 per cent of the 27,436 people eligible actually voted.

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: “In April, in full agreement with Trowbridge Town Council, we transferred services including grounds maintenance, litter collection, the town’s market and some amenity areas, allotments and churchyards to the town council.

“Transferring assets such as these enables the town council to manage these services and focus on local priorities.

“At the time, the town council increased its council tax precept to pay for the running of these services, and now they are once again seeking to pass rising costs, and indeed the cost of servicing their significant debt, on to Trowbridge council taxpayers.

“The town council needs to be honest with its residents on the state of its finances, and not attempt to blame its own financial inadequacies on either the transfer of assets or on Wiltshire Council.”