Bedford council rejects call for rethink over 'unfair' charges for open spaces

At the Full Council meeting on February 5, councillor Michael Headley (Lib Dem, Putnoe) strongly opposed the Executive’s recommendation to exclude Great Denham and Land West of Kempston from special area charges.

He argued that this decision would unfairly burden residents elsewhere, who would effectively subsidize maintenance costs for open spaces in those areas.

Special area charges allow the council to charge specific areas of expenditure that are judged to be for the benefit of a single parish or other area of the borough, to that parish or area, unless the council has resolved to do otherwise. The charges in the case of Great Denham and Land West of Kempston are for the management of open spaces.

“This is one of the most blatant attacks on normal process I’ve seen at this council,” councillor Headley said.

“Anyone supporting this tonight should be ashamed of what they are doing.”

The objection stated that the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) review recommended these costs should be included in special area charges, as is the case for other open spaces across the borough.

He warned that failure to follow this guidance meant some residents would overpay council tax, covering costs beyond their own areas.

However, the objection was ultimately defeated, and the Executive’s motion to maintain the current allocation system was passed.

Councillor Jim Weir (Conservative, Great Denham), the portfolio holder for finance, said the CIPFA report recommended a number of reviews that would make the setting of a special area charge “more accurate and fairer”

“The only thing that seems to be focused on here is the charge, the obnoxious charge, levied on Great Denham and Land West of Kempston,” he said.

“But nothing else from the report.

“You’re not interested in it at all, you just want to pull one thing out,” he said.

“It’s worth highlighting that the play area in the Country Park, which is open to all, is paid for by residents from Great Denham and from Kempston West, but enjoyed as a destination by everyone in the borough.

“We’ve been around this so many times, and I think we’re never going to understand each other,” he said.

The passed motion means the open spaces maintenance costs in the Great Denham and Kempton West developments will not be treated as special expenses by the use of a discretionary power conferred by the Local Government Act 1992.