from the forum

from Councillor Rickard

I only have paper copy but have requested it be emailed to me. I would have expected it to be up on Roger's website by now!

You can get a copy at the Parish Office and I would hope it'll be up on the Parish Council's website soon too (Sunny?)

As a member of the MLC (precursor to the Parish Council) recall that the first budget the MLC proposed was circa £100k? The estimated 05/06 Parish budget is around £125k, however this includes capital costs for

The Hub greater than planned by the MLC. Therefore the current CPC budget would seem eminently reasonable. I also recall discussions in relation to Bar Hill and how it was crucial that we precepted enough so that we weren't caught short in the first year, given that the first year was always going to be highly unpredictable. I think given this unpredictability that the CPC have done pretty well! Surely you can't question that there are significantly more unknowns and many more costs in the first year of a parish being set up than in the 10th or 20th?

You'll also see that the biggest rises in the budget for next year are related to the running of The Hub and managing of our open spaces. Employee costs are also rising on the back of increased Clerk workload and costs (pension etc).

There is also an increase in legal/insurance and audit fees and the cost of setting up and running the cemetery.

Remember that Hub costs will be offset by Hub income and that in the future this may be used to lower our precept (or lower charges for Hub use by the community). Sure our precept will be very high, but we're setting up a brand new village. Its going to be a burden on those residents (ie us) who got in on the ground floor. I bet in 10-20 years time residents will be paying a lot less and reaping the benefits of our investment into great facilities.

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More mistruths in fact uninformed lies, and you were an MLC member Ben if you want a copy of the MLC budget http://www.cambourne.info/mlc%20budget/Cambourne%20Budget%20Latest5.xls

The precept was proposed at £70.61 which would have been lower than Sawston for 2004, we only had 1200 houses, we were similary messed about by SCDC over numbers of houses as they originaly said 1500 and did not change it back as they have with you twice. You may note we took a responsible attitude by showing budget headings from other Parishes for the previous year - as we had no idea what we might need to pay for.

We were laughed at by Chris Taylor legal officer at SCDC who said we only needed a part time clerk and they set a precept of £46.

Quote: You'll also see that the biggest rises in the budget for next year are related to the running of The Hub and managing of our open spaces. Employee costs are also rising on the back of increased Clerk workload and costs (pension etc). There is also an increase in legal/insurance and audit fees and the cost of setting up and running the cemetery.

You already have a full time clerk and we all know you had no need to get involved with the hub running. You don't pay anything for open spaces until December so only 1/3 of the year for 2006/7.

You chose to pay your expensive clerk a pension it was not a requirement, in fact as far as I know you are the only Parish paying one. The clerk workload for a clerk by the SLCC society of LOCAL COUNCIL CLERKS (for 1800 homes) is only 42.5 hours PER MONTH. rising to 50 hours per month for 2500 homes. Remember this is the clerk's body to ensure fair pay and conditions for clerks. Have you explored alternative funding for the burial grounds ? Cambourne is not special in any way for proviing a cemetary, other villages have to make this provision as existing sites become full.

The MLC did not have access to a clerk at all for the budget it was all done in our own time.

Quote: The estimated 05/06 Parish budget is around £125k,

There you go, as a councillor you are not aware that you raised nearly £153k in precept last year and this year you are asking for £228k, (it has not changed now confirmed as £228k making a precept for a band D property of £113.12 for 2015 homes current is £86.95 up 30%) if SCDC had stuck to their original figure it would have been £134.48 and the finance committee of the council were actually prepared to go with that.

DOES ANYONE ON THE PC understand accounts ?

http://www.cambourne.info/clerkstatementbudget2006_7.PDF

The easy option for any council is to prepare a magnificent budget without any regard to abilty to pay, this is what you have done. _________________

Reply from Ben

I can assure you that the Parish Clerk is a very busy man and that you definitely get your monies worth. No doubt he will be spending time addressing Roger's recent complaints. You're right, there is a lot of work involved in managing The Hub. At the last meeting we agreed to employ a part time assistant to do this, so John's time can be focussed back onto Parish work. There is also a lot of work involved with the handover of assets from The Developers and researching costs/quotes for the budget to make sure we get value for money. Cambourne is a brand new parish and it takes a lot of work to set things up from scratch! Preparation for meetings also consumes time, from my experience John is always well prepared for these, helping us make informed decisions and is a great asset to the council (even if his spell checker sometimes lets him down!) Of course the council are not deliberately trying to keep anyone in the dark, are you serious?!

Replt from Roger

Well then why do we have to scrap arround to get information ? I made a simple request to receive copies of minutes when available, this was turned down point blank. We have to keep an eye on the notice boards. How much longer are you a claiming to be brand new Parish ? You have no issues that are not dealt with by other Parishes. In Caldecote they have many new houses, similar development issues, a new MUGA, new basketball court, new playground the 13 acre sports fields are being handed over soon. The precept is currently £29, if we increase the precept by 30% a band D property would cost each property £9. a third of what it would cost in Cambourne. But of course they won't. Have you checked with Sawston what equipment and labour they pay for maintenance ? I can assure you they don't have a £60k budget and they are the size Cambourne will be when complete. Caldecote have a new community centre run by trustees and the clerk is only paid 12% of the Cambourne clerk wages, no pension either. You will find the December minutes already on their web site http://www.caldecote.gov.uk/CPC/minutes/051201%20Draft%20Minutes%20Council%20meeting.pdf You must not forget the abilty to Pay, not everyone is on the salaries recently given publicity.