Audlem has nearly £52,000 in council coffers

Audlem Parish Council went into the new financial year with nearly £52,000 in its coffers, councillors were told.

Final draft figures show that the carry-over of council taxes still unspent from last year now stands at £51,675.

Parish Council finance officer John Kemble called the sum "quite a substantial balance".

He told the Annual General Meeting of the council: "We have ended up the year with considerably more than we started with,"

The sum is an increase of about 30% on the amount of cash carried over from the previous year, which then stood at around £39,300.

Councillors have made considerable savings on outgoings over the past 12 months with substantial sums shaved off insurance charges and less spending than had been forecast on various village projects.

Incoming Parish Council chairman Phillip Johnson said he was pleased that the parish finances were in such good shape.

Referring to controversial Gladman proposals to build 120 new houses in the village he commented: "A fighting fund may be quite useful for the future."

Audlem is also considering plans to adopt the village playing fields, tennis courts, children's play area and possibly the village car park which could be a drain on future funds.

However, apart from these the council has no other major projects in the pipeline. This year the parish received a £18,764.50 precept, a £2,633 council tax support grant and £1,150 from Cheshire East, according to the accounts.

An anomaly in the way the Council Tax Support Grant is calculated means that Audlem may have claimed more than it was entitled to last year so councillors agreed to ring fence this year's grant allocation to ensure ready money is available to balance the books next year.

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