Taunton Town Council to vote on council tax hike

The authority is considering taking on several non-statutory services from Somerset Council, including locking the main gates at Vivary Park

Taunton Town Council is proposing to nearly treble the amount of council tax it asks people to pay.

The Full Council will decide on Tuesday whether to raise the precept from £107 to £299 for a band D home.

The council's Liberal Democrat leader Tom Deakin said he was asking people to pay "a little bit more" to save services like CCTV, public toilets and parks.

They are under threat as Somerset Council tries to avoid going bust.

Under the proposals, Taunton Town Council plans to set aside an extra £1.3m, which could be spent taking on what it calls "devolved services and assets" from Somerset Council.

The local authority is hoping town and parish councils will run some of the non-statutory services it says it can no longer afford, as it tries to tackle a projected £100m budget overspend next year.

Councillor Bill Revans, the Liberal Democrat leader of Somerset Council, has blamed the rising cost of adult social care, inflation and a lack of adequate funding from central government.

A decision is yet to be made on which responsibilities Taunton Town Council will pick up from the local authority, but it could include CCTV, running key buildings and locking the gates to Vivary Park every night.

Taunton Town Council leader Tom Deakin, said he did not want to see services fall away

Taunton Town Council plans to double the amount it spends on parks and open spaces, quadruple money on public toilets and introduce five new town wardens.

Leader Tom Deakin, said: "We can stand by and let services fall away and deteriorate in our town, or we can step up to the plate.

"In order to do that we are going to ask people to pay a little bit more. It's around the equivalent of £3.65 a week for an average band D property. In fact, in Taunton, 75% of properties are in bands A to C."

Mr Deakin said he didn't want his council to just maintain the status quo, but improve services.

Conservative councillor Guiseppe Franchini said residents were being treated like "cash cows"

However Conservative town councillor Giuseppe Fraschini said raising council tax was "unjustifiable" and he believed the move showed "no regards for residents' pockets".

He claimed they were being used as "cash cows" to "bail out their colleagues at Somerset Council for their mismanagement of their finances".

Taunton Parish Council was established on 1 April 2023, the same day the new unitary Somerset Council was set up.

It is responsible for most of the parks and public toilets in the county town as well as a range of other matters, such as events and allotments.