Parish Council to Challenge Double Taxation

Dear Councillor Menlove

Corporate Transformation – Local Service Delivery

You will recall that Audlem Parish Council has expressed a clear interest in being involved in the devolvement of services no longer to be provided to Cheshire East Council. As a result of councillors' further discussions at our Parish Council meeting on Monday 7th February I was instructed to write as follows.

Having learned that Audlem's public toilets were being considered for closure as part of Cheshire East's cost cutting exercise, we entered into negotiations with your officers. After carrying out an inspection of the building, we stated that we would be interested in taking on responsibility for the toilets provided they were brought up to an acceptable standard, befitting a village with an important tourist/visitor economy.

Audlem's Economic and Sustainability Strategy, described in detail in the 2010 Audlem Parish Plan, is to increase the number and frequency of visitors following the opening of eight new retail businesses in the past year or so. Many of those visitors use the public car park and the provision of public toilets of a reasonable standard is a critical facility, particularly as those visitors have travelled some distance.

We find ourselves caught in a trap – not of our making – whereby we are unable to achieve a completion date before the threatened closure date of 31st March 2011. You will appreciate that this is a completely new challenge for Audlem Parish Council, i.e. developing business plans for facilities previously managed by the Borough Council.

We and our constituents also have serious concerns regarding double taxation, in particular the additional cost to the Audlem electorate of keeping the toilets open. At this point the on-cost is estimated to be in the order of £3062.32 p.a. This represents one tenth of Audlem Parish Council's precept for 2010/11. If we consider the other services we have expressed an interest in, the on-cost to the Audlem precept will be in the region of £10,000+.
Does Cheshire East Council consider this an honest and fair way to treat the electorate – not only Audlem, but also the whole of the Cheshire East area? Does the electorate have to accept these extra charges – and still pay Cheshire East Council Tax at the usual rate? In the not too distant future, one can see this differential increasing and resulting in us all getting fewer services – yet paying even more. Is there not an election in May?

At the very least, councillors consider that Cheshire East is obliged to bring Audlem's toilets into line with the Parish Council's specification. At this stage we estimate the cost to be approximately £20,000 and we are working hard on a definitive design. We are aware that at the meeting before Christmas our representatives estimated that £13,000 would possibly suffice. However, further inspection has revealed serious problems with the floor and roof as well as additional replacement pot ware costs. This, together with one worn out automatic system and the severe neglect over recent years means that both the Gents and the Ladies facilities need a complete rebuild.

If Audlem Parish Council is to continue with this exercise, it will require Cheshire East Council's absolute commitment to the following:

To keep the toilets open beyond 31st March 2011 until such time as agreement can be reached and the work completed:

• All costs accruing during that period to be met by Cheshire East Council.

• Cheshire East Council to finance the refurbishment of the toilets.

• Audlem tradespeople to carry out the work in accordance with "The Big Society" principles.

• Cheshire East Council to make an annual payment to Audlem Parish Council to offset the increase in the parish precept.