A new parish council for Tamworth
Phase two: consultation on draft recommendations
Phase one of our consultation has now closed. Thank you to everyone who took part. We're using what we heard to shape the next stage of this work.
A cross-party working group of councillors, representing all the political groups on the council, has now developed draft recommendations.
The working group's recommendations
- Tamworth should have a single parish council covering the whole borough
- The parish should be divided into five wards, matching the existing county council divisions
- The five wards to be called:
- Mercia. County council division known as Perrycrofts
- Saxon. County council division known as The Heaths
- Anker. County council division known as The Cotes/Two Rivers
- Tame. County council division known as Watling
- Peel. County council division known as Wilnecote
- Each ward should have three councillors, making 15 parish councillors in total
- Parish councillors would serve as unpaid volunteers
New parish ward names must be different to anything that has already been used as a ward or constituency name.
The precept
A parish council is funded by a precept. This is collected as part of your council tax and would be an additional cost included in your council tax bill.
Based on indicative costs, the precept for Tamworth Parish Council would be:
|
Council tax band |
Precept cost per year |
Precept cost per week |
|
A |
£13.77 |
24 pence |
|
B |
£16.06 |
30 pence |
|
C |
£18.35 |
35 pence |
|
D |
£20.65 |
39 pence |
|
E |
£25.24 |
48 pence |
|
F |
£29.83 |
57 pence |
|
G |
£34.41 |
66 pence |
|
H |
£41.30 |
79 pence |
This is based on setting an initial budget of £500,000 a year. Once the parish is in place, it will then decide any future precept amount.
What would the precept cover?
The precept would fund the set-up and ongoing running of the new parish council, including:
- Staff to administer the new organisation, including governance, finance, legal and statutory processes, and insurance
- Accommodation and meeting space, including technology, cyber security and an online presence
- Local representation on planning and other local matters
- Management and administration of allotments
- Elections
- Negotiations with the new unitary authority about services the parish would like to deliver
From 1 April 2028, when Tamworth Borough Council ceases to exist in its current form, the parish council would also take on responsibility for the borough crest, the mayoralty and mayoral services.
Why we're doing this
Tamworth Borough Council is facing one of the biggest changes to local government in a generation. Government plans for local government reorganisation mean the council will be replaced by a larger unitary authority covering South and Mid Staffordshire.
The community governance review was started to determine if there should be a parish council for Tamworth.
Based on the consultation at phase one, the cross-party working group of councillors, representing all the political groups on the council, is recommending a parish council is created for Tamworth.