Cold Ash Parish Council approved a budget of £65,413 for the year 2024-2025. This includes contracts for emptying litter and dog waste bins, grass cutting, tree work and maintaining safe and enjoyable play areas as well as administering the Council’s activities and The Poor’s Allotments & Recreation Ground Charities. The Poor’s Charities provide our Recreation Ground, Allotments and wonderful Wildlife Allotment Garden.

For the past four years, we have been able to use our financial reserves to pay the difference between our budget and the Council Tax precept. Unfortunately, this is no longer sustainable because our reserves are depleting, which means we may be unable to respond to problems as they arise; reserves must be maintained to allow the Council to continue operations while dealing with unforeseen difficulties such as flooding, climate change, and ash dieback. We worked hard to keep the budget as low as possible to mitigate the impact of CAPC’s enhanced precept proposal for 2024-2025 on ratepayers. The average Band D household’s CAPC contribution should rise by about £10.00 this year.

More information about the Council’s Budget can be read here.