Government attacks parish councils
21 Sep 2016
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has published a technical consultation on the 2017/18 local government finance settlement. The consultation closes on Friday 28 October 2016.
Local authorities will as usual be capped at a 2% increase in Council Tax, with councils which deal with social care, such as Wiltshire, being allowed 4%. Any authority wishing to go higher would have to hold an expensive referendum.
The government is now proposing to extend capping to town and parish councils, meaning their level of council tax would effectively be controlled by Westminster instead of by their own electorate.