Dates set for shadow parish council meetings

Borough councillors appointed to the shadow parish council for the unwanted Central Swindon South parish have set dates for meetings up to May. These are meetings that will decide what parish council tax will be charged next year, on top of the Borough Council Tax. For many of the services that the Swindon Borough Council is attempting to offload onto parishes, they decide whether the parish council will those services on.

The parish council will come into existence on 1^st April, but elections for parish councillors will not be held until 4^th May, and the decision for what the council tax will be has to be taken before April. So voters will have no say on these changes imposed by Swindon Borough Council until after most of the decisions have been made. Details of the meetings are listed below.

Meeting	Time	Date		Location
Shadow Parish Council	6.00pm	Thursday	2nd February 2017	Room CR6, Swindon Borough Council Civic Centre
Shadow Parish Council	6.00pm	Thursday	9th February 2017	Room CR6, Swindon Borough Council Civic Centre
Shadow Parish Council	6.00pm	Thursday	2nd March 2017	Room CR2, Swindon Borough Council Civic Centre
Shadow Parish Council	6.00pm	Wednesday	29th March 2017	Room CR2, Swindon Borough Council Civic Centre
Shadow Parish Council	6.00pm	Thursday	27th April 2017	Room CR6, Swindon Borough Council Civic Centre
Annual Parish Council	6.00pm	Wednesday	17th May 2017	Room CR6, Swindon Borough Council Civic Centre

 
The principal item on the agenda [pdf] for the first meeting is the transfer of services [pdf] from Swindon Borough Council to the parish. The recommendation for many items is to put-off the decision to accept transfer until a new parish council is elected. But the shadow council is recommended to still make provision for taking on all those services when it sets is tax rate. So residents will be paying for those services whether the parish council takes them on or not.

The new parish will include much of central and south Swindon, including Swindon town centre, Old Town, Parks, Walcot, Lawn, and East Wichel, but not Middle and West Wichel which remain in Wroughton Parish despite local opposition.