Shrewsbury council tax precept to rise by 5%

Council Tax payers in Shrewsbury will face rising bills after Shrewsbury Town Council agreed to increase their budget precept by 5%.

The move comes despite the council’s budget shrinking from £4.8m in 2023/24 to an anticipated £4.5m in the coming financial year.

The rise will see the average Band D property in the town pay an extra £3.16 per year towards the town council budget, up to £66.42 from £63.26.

The town council maintains a number of services not supported by the unitary authority, Shropshire Council, such as the town’s public conveniences and maintenance of a variety of parks and open spaces including the Quarry park and Dingle Gardens.

However council leader Councillor Alan Mosley said he was pleased that the town council had been able to deliver a balanced budget which tracked with inflation, without impacting services provided by the authority.

“All in all this is good news for the council, good news for the people of Shrewsbury and also news which could be far worse if the town council did not have such a high regard for value for money and maintaining the possible precept,” he said.

“We’re also working hard to deliver an action plan for the future which will follow the consideration of responses to a public consultations relation to our new strategic plan.”

Fees for facility hire will also rise slightly, with one-off football and cricket pitch hire going up from £70 to £71.50. Hire of the astroturf pitch at Monkmoor will go up from £34.80 to £36.00 while fees for events in the Quarry such as concerts and balloon launches will also go up slightly.

Day rate for the hire of the Quarry for a major event will go up from £7,750 to £7,900 while the rate for conerts goes up from £11,625 to £11,850.

Income generated from the council’s commercial income streams, such as markets and facilities hire was forecast to rise by around £100,000 in 2024/25, from £1,670,000 to to £1,770,000. A service level agreement with Shropshire Council will provide increased revenue of around £30,000 while schools contracts are worth an extra £10,000 to the town council.