Parish Council precept
South Northamptonshire Council collects the Council Tax on behalf of other public authorities in the district. For every £1 it collects 72p goes to Northamptonshire County Council to pay for its services, a further 13p is passed to Northamptonshire Police Authority, 11.5p stays with South Northamptonshire Council to pay for its services and 3.5p goes to town or parish councils.
The small sum of money that your Parish Council is allocated from these Council Tax payments is known as its precept. In 2005/6 the precept awarded to Brafield was £8200, and in 2006/7 was £9000. About 80% is spent on regular costs - the maintenance and improvement of the village's street lighting, bus shelters, village green and pond, including litter clearance, grass cutting and tree planting on the verges. Although the remainder of the money at the Council's disposal may seem small it can be used to support and win grants from elsewhere which can considerably increase the money available and its possible impact and improvement on the lives of the community. A small investment was made towards the much larger cost, met by the County Council, of the provision of the crossing facilities on the Bedford Road, and the speed warning sign on the Billing Road, for instance.
The Council can and does also contribute sums towards local village groups and projects.
It has specific powers to be able to make grants to improve:
- transport facilities for its residents (bus services, car sharing and concessionary fares schemes for instance),
- community facilities for sports, arts, social, entertainment and educational purposes; and also for public meetings
- crime prevention and traffic calming
- availability of land for recreational benefit and improvement of the local environment; and to protect and maintain war memorials
It also has a general power to spend money that in the Council’s opinion is of direct benefit to the parish and its inhabitants.
Date last updated: 05 May 2007 Valid until: 31 Dec 2007