DOING MORE WITH LESS

Bill Taylor, Finance Portfolio Holder, Sherborne Town Council

In a few weeks’ time, every home in Sherborne will receive the annual letter setting out how much families will pay in council tax. This local tax is used to fund the police, fire and rescue and a huge range of council services including bin collections, libraries, sports and leisure facilities, road repairs and the spiralling cost of adult social care and support for children with special needs.

For the first time that I can remember, Sherborne Town Council will be the only authority on that list NOT asking you for more money. Sherborne councillors have voted unanimously to freeze the town’s share of council tax for 2023-24.

Every family knows the impact of double-digit inflation, major increases in energy prices and the worldwide economic instability brought on by the war in Ukraine, not to mention the enormous post-Covid pressures on the NHS. So when town councillors sat down to draw up a budget for 2023-24, everyone right across the local political spectrum agreed it was time to show some solidarity with struggling taxpayers.

‘Solidarity’ is a slightly old-fashioned word in modern politics, but I believe it’s profoundly important to the health of communities. Like every household and local business, the Town Council is simply trying to do more with less, but in much more innovative ways.

The Covid pandemic showed with brutal clarity how much Sherborne’s beautiful parks and gardens and playing fields contribute to our mental health and physical well-being. So we’ve been investing heavily in improving all this outdoor space while at the same time cutting costs.

For example, the Town Council has completed a major project to install green energy heating at the Gainsborough Pavilion changing rooms at the Terrace Playing Fields. Solar panels and air source pumps will reduce heating bills and also cut carbon emissions. Even in the low light of bleak mid-winter, the results so far seem astonishing to me –better than I had ever hoped.

New paths at the Quarr nature reserve make it easier for everyone to get around, but especially those with difficulty walking. Recent improvements to Paddock Garden also include new pathways that are much more friendly to wheelchair users and parents with baby buggies. And work is going on constantly to improve the beautiful Pageant Gardens.

Perhaps less obvious but equally important, Sherborne Town Council has recently signed new agreements giving long-term financial support towards the essential youth work at The Rendezvous and Tinneys Lane community centre. And our annual grants programme is designed to help a wide range of local organisations from the town band to our partners at Citizens Advice.

Even in troubled times – perhaps especially now –it helps to have a party now and then. So we have set aside a budget to help with plans for local celebrations of the coronation of King Charles III in May.

So the watchword of our times seems to be: do more with less, but do it better and with a smile.

sherborne-tc.gov.uk