ADDITIONAL COUNCIL TAX OF £1,000!

BROADLAND RATEPAYERS FACE HAVING TO PAY

ADDITIONAL COUNCIL TAX OF £1,000 TO FUND GROWTH PROJECTS

Broadland District Council have been informed today that their bid for £28.4m funding has only resulted in an allocation of £9.55M from central government funds representing a 66% shortfall in the initial seed money that was required by the District Council to fund a range of “demonstrator” projects that will introduce and test greener living,

This money was earmarked to pay for such things as retrofitting existing homes in Rackheath to the tune of £4.84M to make them more energy efficient and for a wide range of projects to prove that the theory of an Eco community can actually work. Local ratepayers will now have to fund the difference just at a time when budget cuts see the delivery of front line services being cut and staff losing their jobs.

Stephen Heard chair of local community group Stop Norwich UrBanisation said “This is the second time that Broadland District Council have received a set back in their quest for central government funding as their bid for £90M last year only produced £12M. If you assume that the poor old ratepayers are going to have to fund these shortfalls then each resident of Broadland will need to pay an additional £1,000 per person to cover the gap in what Broadland District Council wanted to fund further growth in the North East Triangle.”

We in SNUB firmly believe that the stance of Broadland District Council is personified in Andrew Proctor, deputy leader of Broadland District Council, comments when he said “We have stuck to our guns and said if we are going to permit major development in that area we have got to get the best out of it.” This comment typifies the headlong rush into spending millions of taxpayers pounds on a scheme that the local population do not want and is flawed on a number of fronts least of all this huge lack of central government funding.

Stephen Heard said in response “They may well be sticking to their guns but they have a lot of targets to aim for not least getting planning permission, overcoming the inevitable public enquiry around the Core Strategy, the real threat of a Unitary council replacing Broadland District Council, finding the money to close the funding gap and not least of all a general election and potential change of government. This is not over by a long way and local residents should continue to show their disapproval of what would be a completely inappropriate and expensive development on much needed agricultural land to provide homes that will not be available to people on the council housing waiting list. We urge Broadland District Council to use this money to fund real investment in existing communities and provide rented accommodation for young families to remain in the community they were born in rather then to be forced into a sterile concrete jungle that will be obsolete in a few years time.”