Council to consider loan for Village Hall renovations. Share your views!

The Parish Council is considering taking out a loan of up to £7500 (over 10 years) to provide a Third-Party Contribution to a larger grant application for the final Village Hall renovations. As loan repayments would mean an increase on the precept (scroll down for more details on the proposal), we are asking residents to share their views with us before 30.11.2021 (see meeting flyer).

The Parish Council will take your views into account at an Extra Ordinary meeting on Tues 30th Nov 2021 at 7.30pm, at Clive Village Hall. View Extra Ordinary meeting agenda 30.11.2021

Share your views by 30.11.2021

Before we decide whether to apply for a loan or not, the Council feels it is important to check that the community supports this project, and resulting precept increase, so please share your views before the meeting on Tuesday, by contacting the Chairman Peter Slark (07966 027890) or you can email the Clerk or phone 01691 674742 (office hours only please). We appreciate this is much shorter notice than we'd like, but we are limited by the timeframes for the Village Hall's grant application with Veolia.

Important: Meeting arrangements

The meeting on the 30th Nov will be open to the public, however as Covid rates are still high, there will be limited socially distanced seating for members of the public. To ensure your views are taken into account, and to minimise transmission risks, we urge residents to share their views by phone or email beforehand, so that we don't have to turn away large numbers of people at the door. If you feel you do need to attend in person, please contact the clerk asap so we can discuss how to accommodate everyone safely.

The safety of the community is of utmost importance, so please consider carefully if you need to attend this meeting. You MUST NOT attend if you or anyone in your household has Covid-19 symptoms in the 48hrs before the meeting.

The proposal: Parish Council takes out a loan for £7500

When the Parish Council previously considered the Village Hall's grant request at the November meeting, it was minded to support the final stage of hall renovations. However, it was agreed the PC could not commit to a Third-Party Contribution of £7500 within the mandated timeframes. To do so would have resulted in a considerable precept increase (approx 19% overall), and would also have depleted the Parish Projects Earmarked Reserve, and would have required transfers from other Earmarked Reserves as well.

An alternative solution that the Parish Council is investigating is taking out a loan with HM Treasury*:

Loan amount: £7500

Loan term: 10 years

Annual repayments: £814.58 per year (split into two half-yearly repayments).

Total cost of loan: £8145.80

Impact on precept: Estimated 6.9% increase on 2021-22 precept, (approx. 6% increase taken in isolation).

Impact on Band D Council Tax: Whilst we do not yet have the necessary figures from Shropshire Council, we anticipate that the extra 6% will equate to approx. £2 - £3 increase per year on Band D Council tax. Overall, a 6.9% increase on the precept is currently anticipated to equate to approx. £3.50 increase per year on Band D Council tax.

*NB. Local Authority loans used to be issued and managed by Public Works loans Board, but are now issued by HM Treasury through the UK Debt Management Office.

Get in touch

The Parish Council is very keen to hear your views on the above proposal to ensure this is something the community wants, and that local taxpayers accept the resulting increase on the precept and Council tax. If you have any questions or would like to share your views, please contact the Chairman Peter Slark (07966 027890) or you can email the Clerk or phone 01691 674742 (office hours only please).