Council Tax Going Up: Why Don't You Ask Councillors Why?

 

Lib Dem, Labour, Green or Tory
SAME OLD STORY

Somerset Independents was formed a year ago to listen and act for residents.

We have listened to how people have struggled during the Pandemic.

We have listened how residents feel that councils and the Government have continually let them down and spent huge sums of public money without explanation or accountability. 

Money which we, the taxpayers, will have to pay back - or even our grandchildren will have to.

We listened to, share and empathise with residents' outrage at how and why council tax is increasing at this horrible time.

Your council tax bill is made up of several parts.

And you will find that most, if not all, parts, HAVE INCREASED! The Somerset County Gazette has reported:

"Each of the five local authorities is raising their portion of the council tax by the highest possible amount they can without triggering a referendum, with similar rises being planned by the police and fire services."

That is why we took action, after we had listened to residents.

 

Standing Up For Residents

As reported on this website, Somerset Independents Co-Founder and Leader Andrew Pope spoke at the Police and Crime Panel and Somerset County Council. Andrew pointed out their failure to spend our money wisely and with residents' priorities in mind.

Andrew asked them to refuse increases. At the first Panel, they refused the increase. But then councillors caved in with a minor change, adding more cost to council tax bills.

Also as reported on this website, Co-Founder Denise Wyatt spoke at Mendip District Council. Denise asked them to refuse increases, pointing out Mendip's major failings to deliver basic services for residents including collecting the bins every three weeks, "if we are lucky" because residents are regularly having missed collections. 

Mendip's failings make residents feel that the council lets them down, even on the bins. But they also want residents to do their own litter picking, and to fund councillors gambling with public money on property investment.

Mendip's Lib Dem, Green and Tory Councillors and fake independent councillors* all voted to increase your council tax.

They voted to do this. But one Green Councillor has not even paid his council tax. More details here.

What can YOU do to hold councillors to account?

Join us in standing up for residents! We are volunteers who formed Somerset Independents to stand up for residents.

Councillors are supposed to listen to you. They are supposed to represent your interests. Instead, they are voting through council tax increases.

Why don't you help us to hold them to account? 

We ask you to write to your councillors and ask them to justify why they voted to increase your council tax.

You can get in touch with your councillors by putting your postcode into the WriteToThem.com website. It will also tell you which councils govern your area.

You can also get in touch by visiting the Councillors page on your local council website.

For Mendip District Council, it is here.

For Somerset West and Taunton District Council (previously West Somerset and Taunton Deane councils, before councillors voted to merge them), it is here.

For South Somerset District Council, it is here. 

For Sedgemoor District Council, it is here.

For Somerset County Council, it is here.

There are also parish and town councils that take even more of your cash. Ask your parish or town councillor how they voted and why. They do not appear on the WriteToThem.com website.

For example, residents of Frome are complaining about the 9.2% increase by Frome Town Council. Frome Town councillors need to explain why they approved this. Here is their website, but we cannot publish all the parish and town councils for Somerset here. There are too many.

At least the Frome Town Council website is better than the others above, with a clear link to the councillors on the home page. One of the worst is the Sedgemoor website, on which it is very difficult to find contact details for the councillors.

We give you the tools to act.

Please let us know their responses. 

Standing Up For Residents and Their Money

 

 

* None of the Mendip independents are truly independent. More of that elsewhere on our website.