Bedford’s mayor has signed his third executive decision on Special Area Charges in less than a month.
The latest decision, signed on Friday, 30 January, was made after a call-in hearing held last week by the council’s Budget and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The process began early in the month, with an executive decision signed on Monday, 5 January, setting out the proposed changes to how green spaces and community centres are funded through Special Area Charges.
That decision was rescinded a few days later after an error was identified in the supporting report.
The revised decision, signed on Wednesday, 7 January, updated the methodology following a review of green space measurements and presented illustrative council tax impacts for different parts of the borough.
But opposition councillors raised concerns about clarity and transparency, prompting the call-in.
Read: Bedford Borough open space charges returned to mayor for rethink over Council Tax transparency
Read: Labour councillor’s frustration at “political game-playing” over Open Space Management charges
They said the call-in was intended to clarify the decision and not to increase (or reintroduce) charges for residents in Great Denham and Kempston West.
A majority of the Budget and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee members agreed, and the decision was sent back to the mayor.
The replacement executive decision formally upholds the previous one, adds further clarification, and approves the final Special Area Charges resolution for recommendation to Full Council.
It also says the cost of maintaining cemeteries and grounds maintenance at Great Denham and land west of Kempston would not be treated as Special Area Charges.
“Scandal”
This third decision was marked as exempt from call-in, as it constitutes a formal recommendation to Full Council as part of the council tax-setting process.
The leader of the Lib Dems, cllr Henry Vann (De Parys ward), who had previously called in the decision, said: “It is a scandal to double tax residents everywhere else in Bedford Borough to pay for a special discount for the management of green spaces in the Deputy Mayor’s Ward.
“Everyone else pays their way for their own area. This decision is in direct contradiction of the impartial advice of the professional finance experts.
“There is more than one way for the costs to be fairly shared out. They have had two years to work out the best and fairest fit. However, they’ve only managed to come up with one other unfair proposal at the 11th hour.
“To ignore the many other options that comply with the system that’s been in place since 1974 is a double scandal.”
by John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
with additional reporting by Erica Roffe
