A RISE in the Stratton St Margaret precept could be off the cards for the next three years.

Parish councillors want to try to avoid increasing the amount of council tax people pay in the area unless there are unavoidable or exceptional circumstances.

The current 2020-2021 precept is £1,369,964.00 - the same as 2019/20 - and charges an average £187.98 a year per household. The first draft of the strategic plan outlines what they will focus on between now and the end of 2023.

Coun Barrie Jennings said: “The plan is a good foundation to build on. In this difficult time, our first priority should be to freeze the precept and offer good value for money in everything that we do.”

Coun Anne Brooker added: “We are doing everything we can to keep costs down while providing an excellent service.”

Chairman Robert Jandy agreed with the sentiment but warned against making blanket commitments about their finances in case an unpredicted change required an increase.

Precepts cannot be frozen in advance so the plan’s wording will make the goal aspirational rather than a fixed promise.

Parish officers are currently focused on making all council-owned buildings Covid-secure, keeping staff and residents safe, fixing the flooding at Merton Field, looking into a lease at St Luke’s for Stratton Juniors FC, dealing with travellers, and looking into financial controls and a staffing restructure.

As for the future, the corporate strategic plan is split into four main priorities.

One involves developing a neighbourhood plan, implementing a young people support scheme, helping deprived areas, allocating housing development contributions to parish projects, and working with highways departments to sort out traffic, parking and road maintenance.

A second focuses on improving green spaces by extending them, discussing areas for additional trees, developing an environmental policy, keeping the area clean, reducing waste, increasing recycling, maintaining play areas, and looking into renewable energy sources for the council’s buildings and vehicles.

Maintaining local government services by creating a working group to support emergency services, schools and neighbourhood watch, hosting community events, a Christmas carol service and a Remembrance Day ceremony, and remaining financially stable make up the third.

And a fourth is improving community and leisure services by renovating the library, maintaining pavilions and football pitches, continuing to work with Parkwood Leisure on overseeing the Grange Leisure Centre, supporting educational projects about community arts and heritage, and securing funding for improvements.