On the evening of Thursday, December 4, Bude and Stratton Town Council met for a full council. The full council is the monthly meeting of all councillors held to adopt the minutes and decisions made at committee level, and to discuss issues that do not fall into the remit of the committee structure.

This meeting was particularly important as the budget for 2009/10 was to be agreed. However, prior to that, the other business of the council was dealt with.

During the agenda item 'Mayor's remarks' I took the opportunity to wish councillors, staff and public present a very happy Christmas. I also wanted to make sure a vote of thanks went to the town council's team of outdoor staff who had been working hard alongside Bude Christmas Lighting Committee to erect lights in town, along with the council's Christmas trees in The Triangle, The Castle, Rattenbury Gardens in Stratton and in front of St Olafs Church in Poughill.

All the decorations around Bude and Stratton are greatly improved this year and I would like to thank Nick Gleed of Bude Eye Centre (who has masterminded the improvements), along with all of the town traders who have worked on getting Christ­mas trees and lights displayed this year.

I also commented on the Boundary Commission consultation document which proposes the electoral boundaries for our new Unitary Authority (One Cornwall) Council­lors. The proposals place Flexbury and Poughill into a ward that would run up to Gooseham, surround Bude Town wards and meet up with the Poundstock ward to the south. The town council will be preparing a response to the consultation document which will be considered at the full council meeting on February 5, 2009 — prior to the closing date for the consultation which is February 10, 2009.

During the agenda item which allows members of the public to speak, references were made to the councils budget, which was to be considered later in the meeting.

One Cornwall issues were discussed, specifically the 'Localism Charter' which will be examined in further detail by councillors. Also, we have been asked by the 'Unitary Authority Implementation Executive' to engage in an 'Active Partnering Framework' process. This essentially asks us if we are interested in delivering services locally that would otherwise be handled by the new authority.

As this council has previous experience in grass cutting on behalf of the district council, we decided to send a response back that we would like to continue taking responsibility for this in the local area providing the level of payment for these services remains the same. I know some of this might sound like a lot of jargon (and it is!) but the names given to the processes and departments implementing the new authority are not of our choosing.

A consultation document from the Highways Department had been received referring to a disabled parking bay being established along The Crescent (almost opposite the Crescent car park). After some discussion regarding the suitability of the position of the bay, the council voted to support the proposal as it stands.

The budgeting process for 2009/10 has been ongoing for some weeks at committee level. At the meeting of the Finance, Staffing and General Purposes (FS&GP) Committee last week, a budget recommendation was made for the full council to consider. As the budgeting process had been slightly altered earlier this year, the item was dealt with rapidly.

To clarify the changed process; should the council not approve the budget as per the recommendation then it should be returned to the FS&GP Committee for further examination. So, the council simply had to decide whether or not to accept the budget as recommended by FS&GP. The vote went ahead and the budget was accepted.

In brief, the budget has risen by just under 10 per cent. We have had tremendous inflationary pressures on services (gas, electricity, fuel and water), which are a significant proportion of our running costs. With the demise of the district council, we are assuming the loss of financial support of around £25,000 which amounts to about five per cent of our entire budget.

Some of the grant support for The Castle is now winding down, which in turn places increased pressure on balancing our finances. Whilst I would have preferred to have seen a lower level of increase, if the town council is to continue to properly care for the properties under its control and provide a good level of service to the town, this increase is necessary.

The town council element of your Council Tax is a small proportion of the whole amount; it is likely to add a maximum of £15 per year to a Band D property. Had the contribution of £25,000 towards the cost of grass cutting areas outside the ownership of this town council continued, we would have almost certainly been able to produce a budget with a lower than inflation increase.

If you are unhappy with the increase, please understand that a large proportion of the increase is due to the lack of any discussion or agreement with the Implementation Executive of the Unitary Authority which comes into effect on April 1, 2009.

Finally, the council is working hard to try and identify areas where costs may be reduced. We are currently working with a specialist company to identify if cost savings are possible on our gas and electrical supplies. The Environ­mental Services Commi­ttee has already been working hard on producing a five year plan to reduce energy use, which will help reduce costs in the longer term. We will strive to continue offering an efficient council service to Bude and Stratton that offers value for money.

Peter La Broy,

Mayor – Bude and Stratton Town Council