Latest news with #parishcouncils


Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Exposed: The councils quietly raising tax by more than 300pc
Voters in rural England are being hit with a 'local stealth tax' which has seen parish and town council levies quadruple overnight. Across the country, householders are facing huge increases in the amount parishes are charging because cash-strapped district councils are stopping funding services they have run for years. This means parish councils are forced to step in and provide these services, which include vital amenities such as public toilets and parks. But while the amount that districts can increase council tax is capped, there is no cap for parish councils, meaning some areas have seen eye-watering increases. In April, a total of 11 parishes increased their council tax precepts by more than 300 per cent. In Waverley, South Yorkshire, it rose from £63.47 a year in 2023-24 to £288.46 in 2024-25. The highest parish council tax increase was Wharton in Westmorland, where the precept went up by 1,783 per cent from £1.67 to £31.45. Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said councils were devolving services such as public toilets and CCTV because they could no longer afford to fund them without breaching the council tax cap. He said the government should impose a cap on parish council tax increases, just as there is for higher bodies. 'Parish precepts are set to be just the latest stealth tax squeezing household budgets, if funding pressures in local government continue,' he said. 'Most town councils are uncontroversial bodies, operating important amenities for what is a small charge on top of council tax bills. But more and more, we are seeing local taxpayers hit by extraordinary hikes in what they're charging, on top of increases at the other levels of local government. 'The government should be consulting on a referendum cap to be placed on parish precept rises to ensure residents aren't hit by surprise bills which they had no say on.' The charge made by parish and town councils – the lowest tier of local government – is added as a 'precept' onto the district's council tax bills. County and unitary councils have their bills capped at 5 per cent, while districts cannot increase their bills by more than 3 per cent. But there is no cap for parish and town councils, which provide services such as allotments, village halls, parks, litter bins and public toilets. In Somerset, cost-cutting measures have led to sharp increases in parish council precepts. Facing £35 million in budget cuts, the county council announced the devolution of services to town and parish councils. They withdrew funding for public toilets, CCTV, visitor centres and other local amenities and asked parish councils to cover the costs. Yeovil parish council precept rose 90 per cent from £145 to £276, and Taunton's by 173 per cent from £110 to £299 in 2024-25. Meanwhile, Somerset Council increased their council tax, excluding parish precept, by 4.99 per cent in 2024-25. Similar cuts were made by Wiltshire in 2019. It had to make £27 million in savings, forcing Chippenham parish council to take on services and increase its parish precept by 40 per cent. These services included a large historic park, a community and arts centre and some small play areas. The parish also took on more road sweeping duties. Chippenham was forced to institute a parish precept rise of 38 per cent in 2019-20. Shadow communities secretary Kevin Hollinrake said: 'The Labour Government is forcing up council tax across the board through their fiddled funding. 'Parish councils have had no compensation at all from Rachel Reeves's job tax, leading to a double whammy of soaring council tax on top. 'Labour's flawed plans for top-down unitary restructuring also threaten to lead to cost shunting from the old councils down to parish level, cooked up in Whitehall but with town and parish councils to take the blame.' A spokesman for the Wharton parish council said its increase was so high because of an administrative error the year before.


Telegraph
6 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Places and people
Britons not Britishers or Brits except in quotations, Great Britain includes England, Scotland and Wales. Normally write about Britain or, when there is an Irish angle to the story, 'mainland Britain'. The United Kingdom, or the abbreviation UK, ought to be avoided whether as a noun or an adjective unless the story has a specific relevance to Northern Ireland that would make the use of 'Britain' or 'British' wrong. Local and regional government in Britain is complicated. For a full explanation of local government in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, read the guide. In many parts of England there are two tiers of local government, with different responsibilities. These are county councils, and district, borough or city councils. However in some areas, there is just one (unitary) tier of local government providing all the services. The three main types are unitary authorities, London boroughs and metropolitan boroughs. Below this structure are parish and town councils. Our style is only to cap up the proper names of councils: Leeds City Council, Suffolk County Council. Otherwise, say Suffolk council, Kent council, Tameside council. Parish and town councils are always lower case. Counties County names should be written in full unless we are placing a town such as Evesham, Worcs. Abbreviate counties in lists. In this instance we should refer to the ceremonial county, not the administrative area. Many traditional counties no longer exist as administrative entities and are split into separate local authorities: Berkshire comprises six unitary authorities but we should still refer to Newbury, Berks rather than Newbury, West Berkshire. We should not refer to counties that no longer exist (it is Enfield, north London, not Enfield, Middlesex), or give geographical distinctions for major places (Sheffield, South Yorks). A good rule of thumb is that if a town or city has a football league team, you do not need to say which county it is in. Addresses should help readers locate a place: small towns with counties; villages in relation to nearby towns; districts (not boroughs or postal codes) for cities. Avoid house numbers unless widely known or relevant. Use 'Street', 'Road', etc., in full and with capital letters. Counties in England: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Bristol (a city and county), Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon (not Devonshire), Dorset, Co Durham, East Riding of Yorkshire, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater London, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Somerset, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Tyne & Wear, Warwickshire, West Midlands, West Sussex, West Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire. Abbreviations: Beds, Berks, Bucks, Cambs, Derbys, Co Dur, E Yorks, E Susx, Gloucs, Hants, Heref, Herts, Lancs, Leics, Lincs, Northants, Northumb, N Yorks, Notts, Oxon, Shrops (not Salop), Somerset, S Yorks, Staffs, Surrey, Warks, W Mids, W Susx, W Yorks, Wilts, Worcs Former counties: Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Middlesex, Westmorland, and the North, West and East Ridings of Yorkshire were abolished in 1974 (although Cumberland was recreated as a unitary authority within Cumbria in 2023, Huntingdonshire exists as a local government district within Cambridgeshire, and Westmorland is now part of Westmorland and Furness council in Cumbria. Middlesex remains only as a cricket team and a postal address). The counties of Avon, Cleveland and Humberside existed from 1974-1996. Rutland was abolished in 1974 and resurrected in 1997. Scottish local government authorities: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee City, Edinburgh (City of), Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow (City of), Highland, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, East Lothian, West Lothian, Midlothian, Moray, Orkney (not Orkneys), Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, Shetland (not Shetlands), Stirling, Western Isles (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar) Welsh administrative areas: Isle of Anglesey, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan, Wrexham Ireland is the country and the island - the style guide used to rule that Ireland should describe the island only. Use the Irish Republic or the Republic if required to differentiate from Northern Ireland, but not Eire. Ulster is acceptable for Northern Ireland. Never the Six Counties. Co Down, Co Cork etc, not County Down, County Cork. Capital letters for regions: the North, the North East (no hyphen in any region), West Country, East Anglia, Home Counties, but eastern England. East Midlands, West Midlands, but south Devon, north Lancashire except in titles. Although North, South, East and West take caps for regions of the world or countries which are regarded as political, economic, cultural or historical entities, they remain lower case for sections of continents and countries, unless the name of the country is left understood. Thus: Far East, but south-east Asia (apart from in Travel articles such as 'Explore South-East Asia'). The East-West political divide, the Deep South, the southern United States, South Africa but southern, north, west or east Africa. Central America. Foreign words in place names Names of geographical features often include words which should not be repeated in translation (Rio Grande, not Rio Grande river or the river Rio Grande; Sierra Nevada, not Sierra Nevada mountains) A-Z of place names Alpine to describe the geographical region, alpine to describe a generic sport Altrincham (no G) American refers to the United States of America unless the context dictates otherwise. North America can be used to refer to the United States, Canada and Mexico Andalusia Arctic: the Arctic, Arctic Circle, Arctic Ocean, but Arctic current Argentina: never The Argentine. The people are Argentines, not Argentinians. The adjective is Argentine, not Argentinian Asian or Asians, not Asiatic or Asiatics Atlanta, Georgia; Atalanta, Italian football team Baghdad Bahamians (people of the Bahamas) Bahrain Banjul, capital of Gambia Barbadians (or Bajan) Basel, Switzerland (not Basle) Basutho (the people of Lesotho, sing and pl). Adjective is Basotho Batswana (the people of Botswana, sing, pl and adj) Bayreuth (Germany); Beirut (Lebanon) Beijing not Peking Belize (formerly British Honduras). Capital is Belmopan Bermudians Bern Berwick-upon-Tweed Bhutan Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosphorus, not Bosporus Botswana Brasilia (capital of Brazil) Buenos Aires Cairngorms Cambodia, Cambodians. Khmers are the ethnic group Cameroon, not Cameroons, nor Cameroun Cape Town Caribbean Chinese cities: Beijing (not Peking), Chengdu, Nanjing (not Nanking), Chongqing (not Chungking), Guangzhou (not Canton), Hangzhou (not Hangchow), Tianjin (not Tientsin), Hong Kong (not Xianggang), Tibet (not Xinzhang), Lhasa (not Lasa), Taiwan, Taipei (not Taibei), Kaohsiung (not Gaoxiong); but Macau (not Macao) Christchurch (Hampshire and New Zealand); Christ Church (Oxford - never Christ Church college) City: cap only when part of the official title or in references to the City (financial centre). New York City only when readers may think there is a reference to New York state Colombia (South American country); British Columbia (Canadian province); District of Columbia (Washington) Comoros – not Comoro Islands Congo: the Republic of Congo, capital Brazzaville, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, capital Kinshasa. Our style is to use the full titles at first reference, then to call the Republic Congo-Brazzaville (as is widely done in Africa) and to call the Democratic Republic 'Congo' at subsequent uses Continent and Continental take caps only to distinguish 'mainland' Europe. We should remember that Britain is geographically in Europe Czech Republic preferred to Czechia Dakar (Senegal), Dhaka (Bangladesh) Darfur is a region of Sudan, not a province. It is divided into three provinces: Northern Darfur (local capital El Fasher), Southern Darfur (local capital Nyala) and Western Darfur (local capital El Geneina) Dhahran (Saudi Arabia) Djibouti Dnipro - city and river. Dominica and the Dominican Republic are separate countries in the Caribbean. Always clarify Dutch (preferred) or Netherlanders but never Hollanders East Asia (Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, North and South Korea. Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam). Avoid being specific about boundaries of the region Ecuador not Equador. Ecuadorean Eswatini, no longer Swaziland (it may be necessary to explain the name change in copy) French Canadians (no hyphen), Latin Americans/Latinos, but Irish-Americans, German-Americans The Gambia Guinea, formerly French Guinea; Guinea-Bissau, formerly Portuguese Guinea. Equatorial Guinea, another altogether Gulf: not Iranian, nor Persian, nor even Arabian: just the Gulf Guyana, formerly British Guiana. Guyanese for the people Hague: The Hague takes a cap T Hispaniola, the island comprising the Dominican Republic and Haiti Hong Kong but Hongkongers Indian place names: Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru instead of Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Bangalore. The Telegraph style guide retained the cities' old names until the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, at which point referring to the 'Bombay terror attacks' in a digital world seemed out of place. However, use the traditional names when writing about British India. Indo-China/Indo-Chinese: (NOT Indochina) Inuit, not eskimos (taken by Canadian eskimos as an insult) Iran, Iranians Iraq, Iraqis Isles of Scilly, not the Scillies Istanbul: Constantinople only in historical references Izmir: Smyrna only in historical references Jakarta Kathmandu Khan Younis, Gaza Khartoum Kilimanjaro, not Mount Kilimanjaro Kolkata, not Calcutta (but the Black Hole of Calcutta) Kosovo Kyiv, not Kiev Lesotho. The people and the adjective are Basotho Liege (but Liegeois) Livorno, not Leghorn Llanelli Lod (Israel), formerly Lydda Londonderry Luhansk, Ukraine (not Lugansk) Luxembourg Lviv, no longer Lvov Lyon, no longer Lyons Macedonia Madagascar. The people (sing and pl) and the adjective are Malagasy Mallorca, no longer Majorca (Menorca not Minorca, but Ibiza not Eivissa) Malaysia is the nation of which Malaya is a part. The people are Malaysian unless there is a specific reference to the Malays, or preferably, Malayans, as an ethnic group Marseille, no longer Marseilles Middle East. Mid-East only in heads. Do not use Near East Middlesbrough (not Middlesborough) Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin Mogadishu (Somalia) Monaco: the people are Monegasque(s) Mount Fuji, not Fujiyama Mumbai, not Bombay Myanmar, no longer Burma Native Americans, not American Indians N'Djamena (capital of Chad) Neuchatel is in Switzerland, Neufchatel in France Netherlands has supplanted Holland, even when referring to the national football team Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle upon Tyne (no hyphens) Nigerians come from Nigeria Nigeriens come from Niger North Macedonia, formerly the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Nuremberg Papua New Guinea (no hyphens) Pathan is preferable to Pashtu or Pushtu Philippines: adjective is Philippine; but adjective for the people, Filipino; Filipina for women Phnom Penh Port-au-Prince (Haiti) Port of Spain (Trinidad) Qom. Iranian Holy Place Quebecois (people and adjective) only in references to the French Canadian people and culture: though a reference to a female would be Quebecoise Richmond, N Yorks; Richmond, south-west London Riyadh Romania Rwanda Sahara. Sahara Desert is tautological Saint John, New Brunswick; St Johns, Quebec; St John's, Newfoundland Salzburg Sana'a is the capital of Yemen. The Bab al-Mandab strait separates Yemen from Africa. Saudi Arabia: never just Saudi, which is the adjective Schiphol: airport outside Amsterdam Scotland: the people are Scots, the adjective Scottish, although Scotch can refer to eggs, pies, whisky, tape and wool shops South Sudan, capital Juba Soviet Union (former): the former states (preferable to the term 'republics', although can be used synonymously) are: Armenia; Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani); Belarus – not double s – (Belarussian); Georgia; Kazakhstan (Kazakh, not Kazakhi or Turkmeni etc); Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz); Moldova (Moldovan); Russia or the Russian Federation (synonymous), but not the Russian republic; Tajikistan (Tajik); Turkmenistan (Turkmen); Ukraine (not the Ukraine, nor the Crimea); Uzbekistan (Uzbek); also, the Baltic states (not republics), Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all now in Nato and the EU; autonomous republic: Tatarstan (not Tataria); Yakutia; Bashkiria; Chechnya; Ingushetia; Nagorno Karabakh (no hyphen); but Alma-Ata. Chisinau, capital of Moldova, not Kishinev; Lvov, not Lviv. Yekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk) must have 'y' at start Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon): the people are Sri Lankans, but differentiate when necessary between Sinhalese and Tamils Strait of Hormuz St, Ste: normally abbreviated in place names, but there are exceptions St Andrews (no possessive) St Helens, Merseyside; St Helen's, Isle of Wight Stoke-on-Trent Stratford-on-Avon district council, but Stratford-upon-Avon (town) Sudan (no 'the') Sutton, a town and borough in south London. Note there are various Suttons across England, we should always refer to their county for clarity. Taiwanese place names continue to take the system used by the Nationalist government Tbilisi (Georgia), formerly Tiflis Tehran Temple Mount: needs occasional Muslim translation, 'Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary (Al Haram al Sharif)' Turkey not Turkiye Valletta Ukrainian place names: before the 2022 invasion we adopted the Russian form to Anglicise place names - Kiev, Dnieper etc. Now we use the Ukrainian form, so Kyiv, Dnipro. United Arab Emirates: abbreviate to UAE only when the full title has been used repeatedly; the Emirates. They are: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah United Kingdom. Remember that it includes Northern Ireland. Do not use the phrase interchangeably with Great Britain United States: US (no full points) acceptable after first mention. Use American as the adjective unless there is danger of confusion with another country in North or South America Vienna Washington. Write in full as Washington, DC (for District of Columbia) only when necessary to distinguish from the state of Washington on the Pacific Coast West Bank: West Bank of the Jordan, the Jordan West Bank or, when the context is clear, the West Bank Windermere, not Lake Windermere (mere means lake) Yemen: the united former North Yemen and South Yemen. Capital is Sana'a Yerevan (capital of Armenia), formerly Erivan
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Plans for Lincolnshire 'super councils' rejected
Councillors in North Lincolnshire have said they will not support proposals for "super councils" in the county. The government introduced plans to reduce the number of councils by creating single-tier unitary super councils across the wider Lincolnshire area earlier this year. Council Leader Rob Waltham said the local authority did not back the proposed changes following discussions with parish councils, residents, and businesses. "The feedback we have received was clear that there is no support for a large council to take over North Lincolnshire," he said. Mr Waltham said the council restructure could end initiatives like free parking in Ashby, Brigg, and Scunthorpe, and the Imagination Library scheme, which provided books to young children. Community grants and road investment could also be cut, he said. Mr Waltham added that relocating the council away from Scunthorpe might weaken local government support for the town's steel industry. "We are keen to make sure we continue to support our communities, making sure that we continue to create better paid jobs, invest in support for leisure and play facilities and to keep listening and working with local people," he said. "The thought that super councils could undermine this great work and ignore the views of our residents and communities is a distraction that we will no longer have." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Eight options submitted for councils shake-up Options for Lincolnshire councils shake-up revealed Plans for 'remote mega-council' rejected North Lincolnshire Council


BBC News
29-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
North Lincolnshire councillors reject 'super council' proposals
Councillors in North Lincolnshire have said they will not support proposals for "super councils" in the government introduced plans to reduce the number of councils by creating single-tier unitary super councils across the wider Lincolnshire area earlier this Leader Rob Waltham said the local authority did not back the proposed changes following discussions with parish councils, residents, and businesses."The feedback we have received was clear that there is no support for a large council to take over North Lincolnshire," he said. 'A distraction' Mr Waltham said the council restructure could end initiatives like free parking in Ashby, Brigg, and Scunthorpe, and the Imagination Library scheme, which provided books to young grants and road investment could also be cut, he Waltham added that relocating the council away from Scunthorpe might weaken local government support for the town's steel industry."We are keen to make sure we continue to support our communities, making sure that we continue to create better paid jobs, invest in support for leisure and play facilities and to keep listening and working with local people," he said."The thought that super councils could undermine this great work and ignore the views of our residents and communities is a distraction that we will no longer have." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.