Town clerk fires a parting salvo at borough council
Friday, 28th February 2014.
Haverhill's outgoing town clerk Will Austin fired a farewell volley of protest at St Edmundsbury Borough Council at their meeting last week.
Addressing the council during their public forum, he slammed them for unbalanced funding of Haverhill in comparison with Bury St Edmunds.
The comment was made in the light of the £129,000 over four years Government council tax support grant which the borough is withholding from Haverhill Town Council, along with similar grants to the village parish councils.
Government minister Brandon Lewis told district councils he expected this to be paid over to the parish councils for whom it was intended as a transitional help to make up for shortfalls caused by changes in the way council tax is calculated.
But Mr Austin took the opportunity to address the wider issue of how the borough funds, or fails to fund, Haverhill with an outspoken attack on the imbalance with Bury, which he saids represented the view of all town councillors of all political parties.
He said: "The fact is that the borough spends the bulk of its budget in Bury – the cabinet member for resources and the accountants will dispute that, but as they don’t keep figures for what is spent where, they’ll have to go with what we do know.
"You spend £1.3m on the Apex but have withdrawn funding from Haverhill Arts Centre altogether. Your main offices are here in Bury so the bulk of the £19m you spend on employees and premises goes into the Bury economy.
"Seventy-five per cent of what you spend on visitor parks goes on Abbey Gardens and Nowton Park in Bury. You spend £300,000 on Moyse’s Hall Museum but you have taken away your only funding for heritage in Haverhill – a measly £5,000 for the local history group.
"You spend four times as much on Shopmobility in Bury as in Haverhill. You fund Bury in Bloom but not Haverhill in Bloom. You pay £80,000 for Bury Festival but nothing for festivals in Haverhill.
"You spend £1m a year on the upkeep of West Suffolk House and £0.1m on your offices in Haverhill. You spend twice as much on the Bury depot as on the Haverhill depot.
"Haverhill has three-quarters of the population of Bury and it won’t be long before it’s as big as Bury, but there is a huge imbalance in your spending priorities.
"Restoring the Council Tax Support Grant would be a drop in the ocean in repairing that imbalance, but at least it would be a sign that you do actually care.
"At the moment you just seem to be taking money from towns and parishes to spend in Bury.
"With your blessing, Haverhill Town Council has stepped in to fill much of this spending gap – especially in the areas of arts, culture and leisure.
"Withdrawing this grant funding will send a message to Haverhill that you just don’t care. Of course I only speak for Haverhill, but you can guarantee that parishes across the borough will be feeling much the same.
"Ironically, Haverhill and other parishes don’t actually want your money in the long run – none of us want to come cap in hand to you every year asking for funds.
"What we do want, and what we can reasonably expect, is that while the Government is giving the borough money to pass on to parishes, that you pass it on in full. If and when the Government signals that the money is no longer going to be paid, then we can talk about stopping the payment.
"I ask you to consider an amendment to your budget to reinstate the full council tax support funding. I calculate the effect to be an increase of 0.4 per cent in your net expenditure, small by comparison with the goodwill and local economic benefits you will reap from St Edmundsbury parishes.
"Do this tonight and I will immediately call a town council meeting to agree a 0.0 per cent precept increase in Haverhill."
The council did not accede to his request. After the meeting Mr Austin said: "Various councillors tried to stop me but to a large degree I ploughed on regardless.
"There did seem to be something of a sense of shock around the room as I returned to my seat in the public gallery – the open-mouthed silence pierced only by a ripple of applause from a few of the councillors and a few regulars at the back.
"I did put my heart and soul into it, and don’t regret that. There were accusations during the subsequent budget debate that I had spoken “politically” and that this was inappropriate for a public official.
"This comment is unfair – what I said simply reflected the town council’s view, and the strength of that view. Had the criticism been made at a point in the meeting when I had a right of reply, I would have explained that this is a part of my role that is expected by town councillors."
Addressing the council during their public forum, he slammed them for unbalanced funding of Haverhill in comparison with Bury St Edmunds.
The comment was made in the light of the £129,000 over four years Government council tax support grant which the borough is withholding from Haverhill Town Council, along with similar grants to the village parish councils.
Government minister Brandon Lewis told district councils he expected this to be paid over to the parish councils for whom it was intended as a transitional help to make up for shortfalls caused by changes in the way council tax is calculated.
But Mr Austin took the opportunity to address the wider issue of how the borough funds, or fails to fund, Haverhill with an outspoken attack on the imbalance with Bury, which he saids represented the view of all town councillors of all political parties.
He said: "The fact is that the borough spends the bulk of its budget in Bury – the cabinet member for resources and the accountants will dispute that, but as they don’t keep figures for what is spent where, they’ll have to go with what we do know.
"You spend £1.3m on the Apex but have withdrawn funding from Haverhill Arts Centre altogether. Your main offices are here in Bury so the bulk of the £19m you spend on employees and premises goes into the Bury economy.
"Seventy-five per cent of what you spend on visitor parks goes on Abbey Gardens and Nowton Park in Bury. You spend £300,000 on Moyse’s Hall Museum but you have taken away your only funding for heritage in Haverhill – a measly £5,000 for the local history group.
"You spend four times as much on Shopmobility in Bury as in Haverhill. You fund Bury in Bloom but not Haverhill in Bloom. You pay £80,000 for Bury Festival but nothing for festivals in Haverhill.
"You spend £1m a year on the upkeep of West Suffolk House and £0.1m on your offices in Haverhill. You spend twice as much on the Bury depot as on the Haverhill depot.
"Haverhill has three-quarters of the population of Bury and it won’t be long before it’s as big as Bury, but there is a huge imbalance in your spending priorities.
"Restoring the Council Tax Support Grant would be a drop in the ocean in repairing that imbalance, but at least it would be a sign that you do actually care.
"At the moment you just seem to be taking money from towns and parishes to spend in Bury.
"With your blessing, Haverhill Town Council has stepped in to fill much of this spending gap – especially in the areas of arts, culture and leisure.
"Withdrawing this grant funding will send a message to Haverhill that you just don’t care. Of course I only speak for Haverhill, but you can guarantee that parishes across the borough will be feeling much the same.
"Ironically, Haverhill and other parishes don’t actually want your money in the long run – none of us want to come cap in hand to you every year asking for funds.
"What we do want, and what we can reasonably expect, is that while the Government is giving the borough money to pass on to parishes, that you pass it on in full. If and when the Government signals that the money is no longer going to be paid, then we can talk about stopping the payment.
"I ask you to consider an amendment to your budget to reinstate the full council tax support funding. I calculate the effect to be an increase of 0.4 per cent in your net expenditure, small by comparison with the goodwill and local economic benefits you will reap from St Edmundsbury parishes.
"Do this tonight and I will immediately call a town council meeting to agree a 0.0 per cent precept increase in Haverhill."
The council did not accede to his request. After the meeting Mr Austin said: "Various councillors tried to stop me but to a large degree I ploughed on regardless.
"There did seem to be something of a sense of shock around the room as I returned to my seat in the public gallery – the open-mouthed silence pierced only by a ripple of applause from a few of the councillors and a few regulars at the back.
"I did put my heart and soul into it, and don’t regret that. There were accusations during the subsequent budget debate that I had spoken “politically” and that this was inappropriate for a public official.
"This comment is unfair – what I said simply reflected the town council’s view, and the strength of that view. Had the criticism been made at a point in the meeting when I had a right of reply, I would have explained that this is a part of my role that is expected by town councillors."
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