PR Own goal?

Arun is only 11% of your bill.

You would have all received your Council tax bills, maybe you were surprised by Aruns headline increase of 3.1%. When I had mentioned it was going to be 1.95% in previous columns,

The explanation behind this was that the government at the last minute allowed Arun to increase band D by up to £5 per year which is higher than 1.95%, because there is a larger number of Band D properties this has fed through to the headline figure for all other bands.

Arun’s share of the Council tax basket is about 11% of your overall bill, for that you get all the services Arun provides, there too numerous to mention, but the headlines ones are Bin collection,Street cleaning, Planning, Greenspaces, licensing of pubs & taxi’s, Band D in Arundel is £1626.86, so for just over £180 a year you get those services, but on reflection I think it was a mistake, it’s a PR own goal and in relative terms has raised only about £100k, against a budget of approximately £23m.

But also included in your Council tax was another new charge, The County Council has been allowed to charge for Social care, but instead of rolling it up in their headline figure they have separated it out, so this is a new charge and most people haven't noticed it. Personally I fully agree with this charge, we don’t pay careers enough and it’s a bit of a Cinderella service, with the issues of Dementia we need to invest a lot more in these services.

The government seems to have got themselves into hot water on the £9m information leaflet about the Referendum, I am still not decided, but why oh why didn’t they get the Office of Budget responsibility to write to the electorate, it appears like Gerrymandering, although in the governments defence they have recommended the negotiated deal and is pushing the case to stay, but the British People have a instinct for fair play and it seems unfair to use the governments money & machine to argue the case. Until next month,

Paul Dendle is Arundel & Walberton Ward and Cabinet member on Arun District Council, web address www.pauldendle.ord. email Cllr.Paul.dendle@arun.gov.uk other ward Councillors for the Arundel Walberton ward who represent you on Arun DC are Norman Dingemans and Robert Wheal.