Extraordinary Parish Council meeting

Audlem Parish Council is to hold an Extraordinary meeting in the Methodist Rooms at 7.30pm on Thursday 30 October to discuss the Parish taking over the playing field, car park, tennis courts and play area from Cheshire East Council.

This presents an excellent opportunity for the village to take responsibility for this vital area in the centre of the village and the Parish Council has been accruing funds towards the potential transfer for some time.

However, this is far from being a 'free of cost' take-over; there will inevitably be some impact in terms of future cost to Audlem residents. This meeting has been called to ensure that residents have the opportunity to fully understand what is involved in taking on these facilities.

History:
Initially the Parish Council hoped to take over just the playing field from Cheshire East to protect this asset for the future. However, the debate has widened as Cheshire East have said any devolvement has to include all four areas – it is 'all or nothing'.

For some time the Parish Council has been trying to get accurate figures from Cheshire East Council for the historic cost of maintenance. Over the past few weeks, with the help of our Ward Councillor, more detailed information has been received which allows a properly informed decision to be made.

These ongoing costs would include:

• Provision for replacement of playground equipment and surfacing plus regular Health & Safety checks and repairs.
• Car park resurfacing and line marking
• Maintenance:- such as grass cutting, paying for lighting and repair of lights in the car park
• Rates and insurance
• One-off legal and setup costs for the transfer
• Contingency for barrier repairs, benches and grass surface and unforeseen (and unwanted) costs such as evicting travellers-

We hope the Parish Council can get all this done cheaper than Cheshire East and we are working on a detailed budget showing future costs which will be outlined at the meeting.

It has been made clear by Cheshire East that there will be no reduction in their Council Tax, so these costs would have to be met from the Audlem Parish precept. (In 2014/15 out of the Council Tax total of £1481.23 for a Band D property the Audlem precept element is £41.41 p.a.)

As stated above, there are funds available to cushion the cost and the tennis club already pays a small rent for the area they use. It may be possible to generate some income by charging for the use of any of the areas of the complex, including charging for car parking if this proved necessary.

These aspects all need to be taken into consideration and it is only right that residents should have full information on the ongoing implications of this project. Councillors hope that you will take the opportunity to come along on 30th October to find out more and give your opinions prior to a decision being taken.

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