Ripon’s parish precept, which is charged to council tax payers in the city, is being frozen at its current level for the third year in succession.
It means Ripon residents living in a Band D property will pay a parish precept of £70.77 for the financial year 2023/24. People in Bands A to C properties will pay less and those in Bands E to H will pay more.
Final council tax bills for the year ahead are calculated by adding the parish precept to the amounts also charged by the new North Yorkshire Council and the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner. The latter two have yet to finalise their amounts.
Ripon City Council unanimously approved its draft budget for 2023-2024 at its January full meeting after independent council leader Andrew Williams told members:
“Because of the increased number of new houses built in Ripon, there are more properties over which the precept will be charged and we are able to raise a levy of £420,000 at no extra cost to the charge payer.
“This is an increase from the £411,000 raised in the last financial year and will enable us to fund, among other things, the programme of public and civic events throughout the year, further improvements to the city’s Christmas lights infrastructure and refurbishment of Hugh Ripley Hall to increase its earnings potential.”
In the new financial year that comes into effect from April, monies will also be earmarked from reserves to pay for any professional advice required arising from double devolution and negotiations on matters including the transfer of assets such as Ripon Town Hall, Hugh Ripley Hall and Market Square, to the city council
Cllr Williams said:
“These are very difficult times with the cost of living crisis putting families under greater financial pressure through increased food, fuel, mortgage, rent and other costs.
“Faced with these circumstances we thought it only right and proper to freeze the precept charge for the coming financial year.”
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Ripon plans some light relief this Christmas
Ripon councillors are determined to ensure festive cheer for retailers, residents and visitors to the city centre this Christmas.
While some towns and cities in the UK are putting plans for seasonal lighting on hold because of concerns over rising energy costs, Ripon will be going ahead with its civic display and switch on event.
However, concerns have been expressed. At Monday night’s full meeting of the council, Liberal Democrat councillor Barbara Brodigan asked:
“With the increasing cost of electricity, could we be seen as being profligate or frivolous at a time when people are having to cut back on their use of power?”
Last year’s Christmas lights switch on in Ripon.
Independent council leader Andrew Williams, said:
“These are indeed difficult times and there there will be more ahead, but we want to ensure that the civic lights are in place to bring some degree of Christmas spirit to the city to benefit our independent retailers and give a lift to residents and visitors.”
This year, the festive programme in Ripon is being supported by Ripon Business Improvement District, which is paying for the production and distribution of a Christmas brochure, setting out the events that will be happening in the city.
Cllr Williams said:
“The council has been paying for the brochure for a number of years and we welcome this support from the BID.”
The Christmas lights are paid for from the parish precept and in 2020, the display was extended following a £65,000 injection of funding from the city council’s events budget, made possible because of the money that became available after a number of planned public events had to be cancelled because of the covid pandemic.
In 2021 there was further investment in the display, designed to boost the Ripon economy by attracting more visitors.
Last year’s switch-on event on November 19 saw a large crowd gather on Market Square.
The areas which could pay an extra tax to fund a Harrogate Town Council have been revealed for the first time in a new map.
A consultation on whether to create the new council will be held this summer after the proposal gathered the support of politicians in Harrogate .
Harrogate and Scarborough are the only two areas in North Yorkshire not to be parished.
And although the move has been well supported by councillors, it will be residents who have the final say on whether it should go ahead.
A new map (pictured above) from North Yorkshire County Council has revealed which areas could vote in this poll and ultimately be served by the town council.
These include:
High Harrogate and Kingsley
Valley Gardens and Central Harrogate
Fairfax and Starbeck
Stray, Woodlands and Hookstone
Harlow and St Georges
Bilton Grange and New Park
Bilton and Nidd Gorge
Most of Coppice Valley and Duchy
Parts of Oatlands and Pannal
Parts of Killinghall, Hampsthwaite and Saltergate
It has been argued that creating a town council will help Harrogate keep control of its prized public buildings and some services such as parks and tourism when the existing county and borough councils are abolished next April.
The existing councils will be replaced by a new North Yorkshire Council which could filter down some powers to all town and parish councils in what has been hailed as a “double devolution”.
Those were the words of councillor Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council, who also previously said more than one town or parish council could be created in Harrogate – if that’s what voters wanted.
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A decision to hold the upcoming consultation was agreed at a meeting of the county council’s executive today when the next steps of the legal process known as a community governance review were set out.
Councillor David Chance, executive member for corporate services, said:
“In the first set of consultations we will consult with the relevant people in the affected areas to gain their views.
“We will then take those views and make recommendations for approval.
“If it was considered appropriate to create town councils, we would then be looking to make such recommendations within a 12-month period.
“And then new town councils could potentially be created in 2024.”
Other services which could come under the control of a Harrogate Town Council include events, markets, play areas, community centres and allotments.
These arrangements are already in place at the likes of Knaresborough Town Council and Ripon City Council which charge £25.27 and £70.77 respectively for their annual parish precepts.
The idea of a Harrogate Town Council has already won the support of members of the outgoing Harrogate Borough Council who made calls for the process to be sped up.
County council leader Carl Les also said he believed Harrogate and Scarborough would both be “well served” by a lower tier of local government.
He previously said:
Ripon’s parish precept is frozen for second year running“I’m a great advocate of parish and town councils.
“That said, it is for the people to decide whether they want them or not.
“I’m very keen that we start the process as soon as possible and we will go to the public in Harrogate and Scarborough at the earliest opportunity.”
New housing developments in Ripon have enabled the parish precept charged to council tax payers in the city to be frozen for the second successive year.
The parish precept is charged on top of the tax paid to North Yorkshire County Council, Harrogate Borough Council and the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.
It means residents living in a Band D property will pay a parish precept of £71.89 for the year. People in Bands A to C properties will pay less and those in Bands E to H will pay more.
At last night’s meeting of Ripon City Council, the draft budget for 2022-2023 was unanimously approved after independent council leader Andrew Williams told members:
“Because of the increased number of new houses built in Ripon, we are able to raise a levy of £410,902, at no extra cost to the charge payer.”
Hugh Ripley Hall
The figure represents a 3% increase for the parish council budget, which stood at £400,000 last year and Cllr Williams explained:
“As we are collecting from a larger base, we are able to freeze the precept for the second year running.
“We believe that this is the right and proper thing to do, at a time when families are under greater financial pressure through increased fuel and other costs.”
The bulk of the money will be spent on the queen’s platinum jubilee celebration in June, other public and civic events during the year and items including town hall rent and the management and upkeep of Hugh Ripley Hall and Ripon’s team of hornblowers.
Conservative councillor Mike Chambers, who represents Ripon at city, district and county council level, said:
“I am delighted that there will be no increase in the parish precept and I lend it my support.”
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Ripon City Council will not be increasing its parish precept for the 2021-2022 financial year.
In 2020-2021 council taxpayers in the city were charged £71.89, on top of the tax paid to North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council.
The precept in Ripon provided a total fund of £400,000 last year.
A total of £100,000 from next year’s budget is being allocated for public events from summer onwards in the hope that coronavirus will be under sufficient control by then to allow them to go ahead.
Money is also being set aside for the renewal of children’s play equipment at Quarry Moor Park and external decoration of Hugh Ripley Hall – the building on Skellbank named in honour of the city’s first mayor.
City council leader Andrew Williams told the Stray Ferret:
“With the current covid crisis and the impact it is having, we decided to keep the precept at the same level as last year.
“It has been a difficult time for everybody with three lockdowns, causing disruption to, among other things, the city’s retailers and the education of children.
“In addition, public events that have been a feature of life in Ripon over many generations had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus.
“However, we must look to the future and make plans and allocate prudent funding that enables us to move forward safely when the lifting of restrictions allow.”
Ripon’s 2020 Christmas lights were extended after an additional £65,000 from the parish precept was spent on them last year.
During 2020, the council set aside £65,000 for a number of public and civic events, including the 75th anniversary celebration of VE Day, Saint Wilfrid’s Day procession, summer bank holiday entertainment, Remembrance Sunday and Christmas and New Year festivities — all of which had to be cancelled.
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The parish precept money, that would have been spent on these events and others, was subsequently diverted to pay for Ripon’s Christmas lights to be extended to help retailers and make city streets more attractive.
That move attracted criticism from some people who thought the money could have been better spent by providing direct financial support for retailers and other businesses affected by the pandemic.