ECCLESHALL PARISH COUNCIL – POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE – Wednesday, December 3^rd 2025

 DRAFT

A meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee was held on Wednesday, 3^rd December 2025, following the Enhancements committee meeting, at 8.50pm.

Present were:-

Councillor R. Taylor (Chair)                                    Councillor C. Wilkins

Councillor S. Perren                                                  Councillor D. Feneysey

Councillor D. Hall                                                       Councillor D. Hill

Councillor A. Reid

Mrs S. J. Worden (Clerk)

No members of the public

1).    Apologies:-

Apologies were receive from Cllr. Dale.

2).    Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday September 3^rd 2025:-

The minutes, which had previously been noted by the Council, were agreed and signed.

3).   Budget update 2025/26:-

Prior to the meeting, the Clerk circulated an updated report detailing balances and expenditure to date against the budget.

This report was considered and accepted by members.

4).   Consideration and recommendation for the budget and associated precept 2026/27:

Members were provided with a draft budget and a document detailing options with regards to the precept and how it would affect the Council’s financial position.

The draft budget includes slight reductions in some areas of expenditure to reflect this year’s spending, inflationary costs and the ongoing need to accumulate reserves for future election costs and the cost of a Neighbourhood Plan review has increased expenditure in other areas. The draft budget presented was £125,951, compared to last year’s budget of £130,881.

However, whilst the budget remains fairly static, unplanned allocation of expenditure of up to £10,000 to ensure robust, professional responses to speculative planning applications (12% of the entire precept for 2025/26), combined with the withdrawal of government funding to support Neighbourhood Plan revisions, has depleted reserves to a point where they can no longer be used to supplement the gap between income and expenditure.

Other pressures include an expected increase to the council’s insurance policy at the end of the fixed term agreement, the cost of which is which has yet to be confirmed and the new expenditure relating to the ongoing maintenance of Beech Road Community Park.

With a current precept of £84,200 and a draft budget of £125,951 the council needs to increase the precept to support ongoing delivery of services and ensure the council is in a financially stable position moving forward. It is also important for the council to be able to take advantage of any opportunities that arise from the upcoming local government re-organisation, to preserve local community assets.

Based on the proposed budget, it was resolved to recommend to full council that a precept of £98,000 be levied for 2026/27. Whilst this will show on Council Tax bills as an increase of 15.9% to residents in a band D household, in financial terms this is equivalent to just 49p a month, £5.91 a year.

The Clerk will ensure this is communicated to residents prior to the issuing of the yearly bills, so the community is fully informed of the reasons and the impact in financial terms as opposed to a percentage, which can be misleading.

5).     Consideration of Grant Requests:

• Eccleshall Rugby Club:

The Rugby Club is undertaking refurbishment to their shower facilities in the onsite portacabin facilities.  Whilst the entire project has been costed at £5,000, the club are requesting a contribution of £500 or more. It was resolved to award a grant of £750 to support the refurbishment.

6).   Items for next meeting:-

Any items for the next meeting can be forwarded to the Clerk.

7).  Date of next meeting:-

Wednesday 4^th March 2026, following the planning committee meeting.

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 9.15pm.