No Council Tax Increase in West Lindsey

West Lindsey District Council has announced it will not increase its share of the Council Tax for 2014/15.

The freeze was announced in the council’s budget report, submitted to council on Monday, March 3, which also included plans for more than £2 million investment towards major projects. Leader of the council, Cllr. Jeff Summers said:

“We know times are hard for many people so we are delighted to be able to freeze Council Tax protecting residents from increased bills.”

The decision means that from April, residents will continue to pay the 2013/14 rate, meaning council tax has been frozen in three out of four y

Cllr. Jeff Summers, Conservative Leader
 of West Lindsey District Council

ears. Cllr. Summers added:

“The council’s entrepreneurial approach is being used to counter the continuing reductions in government grant with income generation and cost reduction offsetting the impact and allowing the council to freeze council tax. We continue to generate more income to avoid tax increases and are working hard to support communities and regenerate the district.

“We are also very pleased to be able to invest in major projects that we believe will help the district grow and prosper including rural transport, community and business grants and increasing housing availability.”

Those projects include:

• £250,000 grant funding available to invest in communities, providing finance in a way that helps people to help themselves
• £37,000 to support the Councillor Initiative Fund, which has already helped thousands of projects across the district
• £300,000 to develop a solution to rural transport connectivity
• £1.1m investment to return empty homes back into use
• £640,000 business relocation fund and commercial grant schemes to provide an attractive incentive to encourage business growth

It has also pledged its support to a new flooding relief scheme. It will offer 100% Council Tax exemption for up to one year, to support residents affected by flooding.

The council managed to find £1million of savings at a time when the budget allocation from central government is drastically reducing each year. However, the council is not complacent as it still needs to find £2million over the next two years to balance the budget. Cllr. Summers added:

“We recognise it is a testing time for public services generally but we are focusing on getting the job done. This means doing more of what local people value and protecting frontline services as we said we would.

“This budget is about growth and investment, at a time when others around us are looking at reducing, cutting and stopping, but we recognise this is key to our future. We will continue to drive forward efficiency plans and streamline services to deliver what our customers value”

Budget 2013: Local Councillor Welcomes Tax Cutting Measures

West Lindsey District Councillor Giles McNeill, Conservative (Nettleham Ward) has welcomed the 2013 Budget delivered by Chancellor George Osbourne, particularly the bold set of tax cuts announced for businesses and employers in West Lindsey.

A new Employment Allowance will take £2,000 off the National Insurance bill of every employer – open to businesses, charities and community amateur sports clubs. This will help 60,000 employers in the East Midlands, taking 30,000 out of having to pay any tax on jobs at all.

 Employers will be able to hire one extra person on £22,400 a year, or four people working full time on the minimum wage, without paying any National Insurance.

A further corporation tax cut to 20 per cent in April 2015 will see the UK having the lowest corporation tax rate in the G20, which sends a clear signal that Britain is open for business. 

Stamp Duty on shares in companies quoted on growth markets like AIM and the ISDX Growth Market has also been abolished. This will benefit around 1,000 UK quoted companies – a transaction tax removed here as 11 EU countries are looking to introduce a sweeping financial transaction tax. 

Cllr. McNeill commented:

“This is fantastic news for businesses in the Nettleham Ward and across West Lindsey. The Employment Allowance will make it easier and cheaper for firms to hire people – an employer could hire four people working full time on the minimum wage without paying any National Insurance.  

“These and the other business measures in the Budget are exactly what businesses need to hire, to expand and to grow.”

The amount people can earn before paying income tax - the personal allowance - will rise to £10,000 in April 2014.

Hard working people in Nettleham, Greetwell, Riseholme and Grange-de-Lings will be over £700 better off every year than when this Government came to office. Almost three million more of the lowest paid will pay no income tax at all.

This tax cut will benefit an estimated 35,874 people in the Gainsborough constituency. In April 2014, 430 people will be lifted out of income tax, taking the total number of people in the Gainsborough constituency lifted out of tax by Conservatives to an 4,079.

Labour want to reintroduce the 10p tax band that they abolished. Conservatives in Government have now turned Labour’s 10p tax band into a zero pence tax band. Every person paying tax at the 10p rate when Labour doubled it, will now be paying no income tax at all on that income.

Cllr. McNeill commented:

“This Budget has delivered real support for people who aspire to work hard and get on. Around 2,000 people in the Nettleham Ward will be over £700 better off every year. With this landmark tax cut, Conservatives have cut tax bills for 24 million people”.

The Government will also make ex-gratia payments of £5,000 to Equitable Life policyholders who bought their annuity before 1992, the Chancellor has revealed in his budget statement.

The Government will also make an extra £5,000 available to those on the lowest incomes who are on pension credit. There is no legal obligation to make either of these payments.

Cllr. McNeill welcomed the news, saying:

“I am proud that two years ago Conservatives in Government set aside £1.5 billion to help so many of my constituents who had been let down when Equitable Life failed.

“Now we are helping another 9,000 people across the country.

“It took nearly a decade for the last Labour Government to own up to their responsibilities. We acted immediately. This will make a huge difference to the many older people who were affected in the Nettleham Ward and across West Lindsey.”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has cancelled Labour’s planned fuel duty rise in the Budget, saving 2.7 million motorists in the East Midlands over £170 every year.

Because of the action we have taken, pump prices will now be 13 pence per litre lower than if Labour were in power. For a Vauxhall Astra that is £7 less every time families fill up the tank – or £9 less for a Mondeo. A van driver will save £340 per year and a haulier will save £5,200 per year.

Fuel duty will now have been frozen for nearly three and half years - the longest freeze in duty for over 20 years.

Cllr. McNeill welcomed the news, saying:

“This is a Budget that is delivering for families who want to work hard and get on in life.

 “Scrapping another of Labour’s planned fuel duty increases will make a huge difference to the 2.7 million drivers in the East Midlands region.

“This Government has frozen fuel duty for three and a half years - longer than any Government in the last two decades - and saving the average family £7 every time they fill up their car.”

Particularly welcome was the Chancellor of the Exchequer announcing he would scrap Labour’s planned increase in beer duty, and instead, go further, cutting the duty by a penny, meaning beer will be 1p per pint cheaper after Sunday night – 4p per pint cheaper than it would have been under Labour.

Cllr. McNeill welcomed the news, saying:

“Labour increased beer duty by sixty per cent and left our pubs fighting for survival. Nettleham is fortunate to have four pubs – the Brown Cow, The Black Horse, The Plough and the White Hart.

“We’ve not only scrapped Labour’s planned increase – we’ve actually cut it.

“It is great news for beer-drinkers, it is great for breweries, and it’s great for 4,525 pubs across the East Midlands.”

Drinkers Alliance Attack Government Plans To Raise Taxes on 'Middle Class' Alcohol

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is under strong pressure from 10 Downing Street to 'make an example' of whisky, gin and vodka drinkers when he makes his Commons statement later this month, the Drinker's Alliance claim.

The debate over the plans is further evidence of the tension between Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mr. Darling, which boiled over last week when the Chancellor said No.10 had unleashed the 'forces of hell' on him after he predicted the recession would be the worst for 60 years.

Under the 'nuclear option' plan for increasing duty – designed to appease the health lobby and show that ministers are serious about tackling the problems caused by binge drinking – the cost of a bottle of spirits would rocket, along with the cost of spirit-based alcopops favoured by young drinkers.



A bottle of Bells whisky could rise from £14.79 to £23.73 while Gordon's gin, another favourite of middle-class drinkers, would increase from £12.79 to £21.17.

Even if Mr Darling imposed a less draconian rise, industry sources are braced for increases significantly above the five per cent already earmarked for beers, wines and spirits under the government's alcohol duty 'escalator'.

That ensured a two percent rise in duty above the level of inflation every year in the Budget for four years starting last year. Under Whitehall calculations, this year's escalator would be set at five per cent.

However, leading figures at No.10 are pressing the Chancellor to hammer spirits much harder, after a series of recommendations by MPs on the health select committee last year, Drinkers Alliance claim.

They say the report demanded that 'unlike in recent years, duty increases should predominantly be on stronger alcoholic drinks, notably on spirits'.

MPs called for a return to the level in 1983 when the duty on a litre of pure alcohol was 11 percent of the average male weekly manual wage, compared with 5 percent in 2002.

Such a move would send Britain to the top of the European league table for spirits tax.

Mr. Darling is understood to be fighting the calls for the very steepest possible increases – but Whitehall sources nevertheless expect him to introduce big rises in duty on spirits, in part to raise money to help cut Britain's record deficit.

The Budget – a key springboard for Labour's election campaign – is currently pencilled in by government planners for either Wednesday, 24th March 2010.

As The Sunday Telegraph has already revealed, Mr. Brown and Mr. Darling are at odds over the package, with the Prime Minister keen for it to contain spending increases on voter-friendly areas such as schools and hospitals, as well as jobs programmes for young people.

The Chancellor, however, is holding out firmly against a 'giveaway' Budget in favour of a 'realistic' statement to reassure markets that Labour is serious about reducing Britain's £178 million deficit.

There are claims the Treasury is also drawing up plans to increase VAT from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent – something those close to Mr Brown would fiercely resist just before the general election.

Mr. Darling reopened hostilities with No.10 with his 'forces of hell' comments – understood to have been aimed at Messrs. Charlie Whelan and Damian McBride, Mr. Brown's former spin-doctors.

Hitting middle-class drinkers with big rises in the cost of spirits would be electorally risky. However, leading figures inside No.10 are understood to be concerned that Labour is not sending out a clear signal that it is ready to get tough on binge drinkers.

The Conservatives, by contrast, have already pledged to increase the duty on alcopops and super-strength beer and cider without necessarily lifting the duty on spirits.

A four-pack of super-strength lager would rise by £1.33 and a large bottle of alcopop would increase by £1.50, under Conservative plans.

Mr. Jeremy Beadles, Chief Executive of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association, said:

"We are a vital industry to the UK's recovery. It is clear the Chancellor is under real pressure to significantly increase the duty on spirits.

"Thousands of jobs are at risk. The hard-working people of this country should not be made to pay for the recession.

"They should be able to enjoy a drink in these times of hardship without being penalised by extra costs. They are already paying enough in taxes. Enough is enough."

Top 100 EU Regulations to Cost UK Economy £184 billion by 2020

Next British Government must tackle EU overregulation

 

Open Europe recently published a 'Top 100 list' of the most costly EU regulations introduced in the UK since 1998. Based on the UK Government’s own impact assessments, Open Europe estimates that the top 100 existing EU laws will cost the UK economy a staggering £184 billion between 2010 and 2020, even in the unlikely event that no new regulations are be passed during that time period.

For the same amount of money, the UK could abolish its entire budget deficit.

 

Open Europe finds that while the UK benefits from some of these regulations, many laws originating in Brussels are overly prescriptive and unnecessarily burdensome. An incoming UK Government must take a radical new approach to EU legislation.

Open Europe’s Research Director Mats Persson said:

"Despite some attempts at reform, the cost of EU regulation continues to rise year on year. Some of these regulations might be helpful but far too often the cost of EU rules outweigh the benefits. The UK is facing a massive public deficit, so the Government should be doing everything it can to save money. Targeting even just a few of the most costly EU regulations could save taxpayers and business billions every year.

"There is almost no point in trying to cut regulation without concentrating on EU rules, since 72% of the total cost of UK regulation now originates in Brussels. The next UK Government must take a new, radical approach to cutting red tape, and this means getting smarter and tougher when negotiating in Europe.

To read the full Top 100 list, click here.

 

The top four most costly EU regulations by 2020 are:

1. The Working Time Regulations Cost by 2020: £32.8 bn Prescriptive working time rules which have caused massive problems for the UK’s public sector, including compromising NHS patients’ safety, according to a recent Government report.
2. The Climate Change Act 2008 Cost by 2020: £28.2 bn A slew of new energy targets and rules which will add £130 to £200 a year to the annual domestic energy bill for a family of four in Britain. The package does not represent the most cost effective way to cut carbon emissions.
3. Energy Performance Certificates for buildings Cost by 2020: £20.2 bn This Directive gave rise to the Home Information Packs, which have been widely criticised by estate agents, chartered surveyors and consumer groups for creating extra costs for home owners while providing little benefit.
4. Temporary Agency Workers Directive Cost by 2020: £15.6 bn New rules for temporary agency workers, which, according to former Business Secretary John Hutton, could consign “literally thousands of people to benefit dependency“ in the UK.

For more information on Open Europe’s proposals for how to tackle EU overregulation, see here (Chapter 5).

 

All cost estimates are based on the UK Government’s own impact assessments for regulatory proposals. The sources used to obtain the impact assessments included department websites, command papers produced by the Department for Business every six months, the House of Lords library, and the Office of Public Sector Information website. In a few cases, we also used other sources in order to verify costs and undertake further research on proposals.

 

Where regulations do not run until 2020, or are not implemented until after 2010, the cost estimates have been adjusted accordingly.

 

To reflect the fact that impact assessments in different years are likely to present estimated costs and benefits in terms of different years’ prices, estimates have been adjusted for inflation, so that all figures are presented in 2010 prices. The costs have been adjusted using the Treasury’s GDP deflator series, last updated September 2009. Where an impact assessment does not state which year’s prices have been used, it has been assumed that costs and benefits are expressed in terms of prices in the year that the impact assessment was published.

 

The Present Value (PV) of the cost of regulation in 2020 was calculated using the discount rate of 3.5 percent recommended in the Treasury’s Green Book. Where regulations have not been implemented until November/December of a particular year, those costs have only been counted in the year immediately after the implementation year.

 

Further information on the methodology used for the 'Top 100 list' can be found in 'Out of control? Measuring a decade of EU regulation' – Annex 1.

Labour City Councillors Attack Discounted Council Tax Rate for Pensioners

Labour councillors on the City of Lincoln Council have attacked a decision made by the cabinet of the Conservative-led council to keep a specific council tax reduction for pensioners.

The City of Lincoln Council has announced it will stick with a scheme which sees elderly residents pay the previous year's council tax rates, currently saving pensioners the lowly sum of 50p a month.

The authority, which sets the rate, believes that it means 'pounds back in the pensioners' pocket', giving them a fairer deal.

However, Leader of the Opposition, Cllr. Ric Metcalfe, Labour (Gebe Ward), has attacked the reduction at a council meeting on Tuesday. 5th January, calling it 'completely useless' scheme.

Directing his attack to the Leader of the Council, Cllr. Metcalfe addressed the meeting saying:

"I wonder if you or your colleagues realise what a completely useless scheme this is.

"If this matter went before council, we would ask for it to be deferred. You could utilise money used for this for a concerted take-up campaign to identify pensioners not claiming the benefits they are entitled to."

Council Tax bills have increased by more than the rate of inflation, and many people on fixed incomes find the increase in the council tax difficult to afford. Independent studies have identified that pensioners are amongst this group of people. The Conservatives decided to introduce the reduced rates to the elderly last year, deferring one year's rise in council tax and providing a significant saving of, on average, around 4% this year.

Cllr. Metcalfe, presented an argument suggestng that because the total council tax bill will go up a year in lieu, this means they could pay more one year than regular taxpayers. Unfortunately that is simply not true, at worst if the deferrment was halted - as the Labour Group propose - then the elderly would be paying the same rate as other council taxpayers.

Cllr. Ms Karen Lee, Labour (Carholme Ward), also attacked the decision, saying:

"This 'saving' for pensioners is a huge con. You obviously haven't got the nous to work this out properly."

The freeze only applies to the City of Lincoln Council's share of the tax – not the county council or police authority's share. The final council tax rate for the coming year has not been set.

Leader of the Council, Cllr. Darren Grice, Conservative (Bracebridge Ward) said it was a justified move.

"Labour would cease the pensioner discount scheme, because they don't think it is warranted.

"We think any pounds we can get back in the pensioner's pocket is better than in the pocket of city hall. They don't agree with that. They're going back to their tax and spend policy which got the council into the mess we are now sorting out."

City of Lincoln Council have produced this helpful video:

Taxpayers Footing £1,000,000 Bonus Bill

Bonus payments to top policemen and tradesmen in Lincolnshire have cost more than £1million in taxpayers' cash.

The Lincolnshire Echo has reported that the City of Lincoln Council and Lincolnshire Police have been paying the cash to staff over the last five years, on top of their basic salaries.

The bonus bill at City Hall totalled £940,876 between 2005 and 2006, when the council had a Labour administration, with the biggest single payout amounting to £15,001, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Officials from the authority say the practice was stopped in June 2006 and the bonuses were given to tradesmen as part of a national pay agreement.

Lincolnshire Police has paid out £224,693 in the same period within the 'executive', which includes the six chief officers such as the Chief Constable and the Deputy Chief Constable, receiving the majority of cash.

In 2005, the force only paid out £8,297 in bonuses but this has since soared to £43,999 in 2006, £51,560 in 2007 and £60,997 in 2008.

The figures disclosed to the paper for 2009 was £59,840, as of Monday, 7th December 2009. Within the last 12-months the Lincolnshire Police executive has received £52,140 of the total bonuses issued with staff lower down the hierarchy securing the remaining £7,700.

North Kesteven, West Lindsey and East Lindsey district councils and Lincolnshire County Council say they have not paid a single penny in staff bonuses in the same period.

City of Lincoln Council director of housing and community services, John Bibby, said there was no intention to bring them back.

West Lindsey's Council Tax Rise Less Than 1%

Next year's Council Tax increase from West Lindsey District Council will be less than 1%. That is the pledge from the ruling Conservative Group made by Acting Leader of the authority, Cllr. Adam Duguid, Conservative (Market Rasen Ward), following consultation meetings with local residents.

"We have spoken to householders who told us quite clearly that their budgets were under pressure in these difficult economic times and they wanted the lowest level of increase we could reasonably levy.

"Bearing this in mind, we have looked long and hard at our figures and because we made some difficult decisions last year we are now in a position where having an increase of less than 1% is sensible and will not lead to a reduction in key services or to massive cuts,"

Cllr. Duguid said that the foundations had now been laid for low council tax increases for the foreseeable future, but this did not mean that new projects and improvements would not be carried out.

"We set our priorities in August to do all we could to be a prosperous district and grow the economy in these difficult economic times.

"Our plans to build a swimming pool in Market Rasen remain on track and the project to make £3 million worth of improvements to Gainsborough town centre - funded by the Council and many other partners - will start on January 11th."

The meeting of West Lindsey District Council that will set the level of Council Tax is scheduled to take place on March 7 2010.

Residents in Nettleham will also be helped during the recession as Nettleham Parish Council has frozen the parish's precept - that part of the Council Tax raised for Nettleham Parish Council.

Leader of Lincolnshire Council Council, Cllr. Martin Hill OBE, Conservative (Folkingham Rural Division), recently has said:

"At the county council, we are preparing for substantial cuts in government funding, as the economic outlook for all local councils in England is the bleakest in decades."

It is expected that the increase in the proportion of the Council Tax collected for the county council will be around 2.5%.

Pre-Budget Report 2009 Summary

A summary of the key announcements in Alistair Darling's pre-Budget report.

TAX

• All national insurance rates to rise by a further 0.5% from April 2011, raising £3bn a year


• VAT to return to 17.5% from 15% from 1 January 2010. No other changes to VAT


• One-off 50% tax on bank bonuses of more than £25,000


• Stamp duty holiday on certain properties to end on 1 January 2010


• Bingo duty to be cut from 22% to 20%

ECONOMIC FORECASTS

• Economy forecast to shrink 4.75% in 2009, worse than 3.5% forecast in April


• Growth of 1%-1.5% expected in 2010 and 3.5% in 2011 and 2012

BORROWING

• 2009 forecast raised by £3bn to £178bn


• Estimated borrowing of £176bn in 2010 and £140bn in 2011, falling to £96bn in 2013


• Budget deficit to be halved by 2013


• Estimated public loss from bank bailouts reduced from £50bn to £10bn

SPENDING

• Total spending in 2010-11 to rise by £31bn.


• No spending review for period after that


• Current spending estimated to fall by 0.8% between 2011-2 and 2014-5

PAY, PENSIONS AND BENEFITS

• Basic state pension will rise by 2.5% in April 2010


• Child and disability benefit to rise by 1.5% in 2010


• Contributions to public sector pensions to be cut by £1bn a year


• All public sector pay settlements to be capped at 1% for two years from 2011

ENVIRONMENT

• £160m investment in low-carbon and renewable projects


• £200m extra investment for Warm Front insulation scheme, helping 65,000 households


• Boiler scrappage scheme for 125,000 households


• Electric cars to be exempt from company car tax for five years


• Tax rebate for installation of wind turbines and solar panels

EMPLOYMENT

• Under-24s to be guaranteed work or training after six months out of work


• Training or education guarantee for 16 and 17-year-old to be extended to 2010

BUSINESS

• New 50p tax on landline phones to pay for superfast broadband


• New 10% tax on income from patents to boost science development


• 1p increase in corporation tax for small firms to be deferred

FAMILIES

• Free school meals to an extra 500,000 low income families
  

Green Wheelie Bin Overpayment Rebate

One of the central campaign promises of the Conservatives when they won in the Local Elections in 2008 was a promise to scrap the £24.50 annual charge for Green Bins, initially for pensioners and when council finances permitted, for all users of the service.

The introduction of free green bin collections to everyone in the district means that those who had paid in advance have effectively overpaid. The Conservative administration of the Council have now decided to reimburse those who have been disadvantaged.

The cost of the refunds is being met from the savings that are being achieved by the triple bin waste collection. Repayments will be for as little as £2 up to more than £22. Because of the relatively small amounts involved, customers are being urged to allow their refunds to be credited against their Council Tax.

To make your claim please use the form here.

Purchase of City Hall to Save Taxpayers £230 million

Lincoln City Council has agreed a deal which will save taxpayers in Lincoln an estimated £230 million, following a decision to purchase the leasehold for City Hall. The council have owned the freehold for the land, but following a unanimous decision by councillors on Friday, the authority will buy the building for £13 million, doubtlessly utilising money from the public works loans board or a bank.

Prior to the exchange of contracts, the authority had been tied into a 127-lease that began in 1971. The estimated £230 million savings includes rental costs over the remaining lease period, less the cost of borrowing.

Leader of the City of Lincoln Council, councillor Darren Grice, said:

"We are now the masters of our own destiny in terms of what we do with City Hall.

"Thanks to this decision the city council will no longer have to pay an annual rent and even including borrowing costs this will save Lincoln taxpayers over £230 million.

"We have exchanged contracts at exactly the correct time, when property values are relatively low, and when borrowing is at an affordable level."

Had the council's lease run to its completion it would have ended in 2097.

In 1971 the rent was £62,000 a year. This figure has been reviewed on a seven year cycle and in 2006 was set at £619,656 a year. It is estimated that if the authority continued to rent the property, it would cost the taxpayer £762,099 by 2013 and over £9 million by 2097.