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Have you ever wondered what we get for our Council Tax??
Top of the list I suppose…Getting our dustbins emptied, nobody seems to moan about this. It is carried out efficiently, so top marks for this. Worth the money.
Police. This causes more complaints than most things, way down the list.
Roads. The stock reply from County, “Sorry not enough cash in the kitty for repairs,
Foot paths. Same as above, if any work is carried out it is only patching up, which will lead to massive costs in the future on replacement road surfaces.
Education. This covers a lot of difficult things and the stock answer, once again from county, “PFI (Public Finance Initiative) is paying for the next 25 years” to the best of my knowledge this seems to cover the new buildings and maintenance. Also all the road calming comes under the same heading. Maybe the experts would like to correct me when I say, ‘To me, this sounds like a dirty big mortgage that has to be paid via the Council Tax over the next 25 years.’
Also under this heading, according to reports in the Sussex Express, it looks as if we are going to lose the Joff playing field, at the back of the Joff Youth Centre. The Education Department want to take over this field for a sports ground for the new Peacehaven Community School. This field according to the newspaper will be security fenced, which means that access across this field (mainly used by elderly people) to the Meridian Centre will be shut off. The kids using the field for playing in will lose out. Will there be an alternative provision for the Play Group at the Joff who use the field in the summer, and can a path be provided for the elderly and others who use the field as a short cut to the Meridian Centre?
As you know this town is famous for its lack of amenities, so they (the County) are taking away one of the few amenities that we have. The answer to that by Council is, “We own the field, therefore we are saving the town extra Council Tax to pay for a field elsewhere.” Forgive me if I fail to see the logic behind that statement. We lose either way it goes, lose the field or dip in your pocket.
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