Dear Editor,
We generally accept that Council Tax is a necessary evil and that Durham County Council (DCC) – like all councils throughout the country – has suffered with a major reduction in the funding it receives from central government.
In order to offset this, Council Tax has been increased across the board by 4.9%. I believe that this is unfair on towns like Shildon.
Many of DCC’s responsibilities towards towns in the county include:
Rubbish/Recycling, Schools/Learning, Benefits/Support, Leisure/Culture, Emergencies, Social/Health/Care, Planning/Property, Environment, Libraries/Archives, Children/Families, Housing, Crime/Safety, Jobs/Careers.
Two of the most expensive of the above are Education and Children/Families.
Based on figures from 2021, we can see that locally, Shildon has 3 primary schools, no secondary school, no Family Hubs and pays £1,675 in Council Tax on a Band A property.
Meanwhile, Ferryhill, Spennymoor and Bishop Auckland all have primaries (4, 3 and 3 respectively), secondaries (1, 3 and 3) and each has a Family Hub. Additionally, they all pay less for the same band of Council Tax (£1,629, £1,627 and £1,511). Bishop Auckland, of course, also has a college.
From the above figures it is apparent that for the two DCC responsibilities of Education and Children/Families, Shildon is withdrawing significantly less from the DCC purse that the neighbouring towns.
I believe that further comparative analysis for the rest of DCC’s responsibilities would reflect a similar picture.
This being the case, it makes no sense that Shildon should be paying more Council Tax than Ferryhill or Spennymoor, and considerably more than Bishop Auckland.
Essentially I am of the opinion that Council Tax should be a function of how much a town withdraws from the DCC fund.
I would respectfully request that DCC publish a comprehensive comparative table outlining how each town withdraws monies for each of the council’s responsibilities and that Council Tax either be adjusted to recognise the differences or that DCC explains to the people of Shildon why it is that they should be paying so much more for so much less.
Your sincerely,
Fred Langley, Shildon
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
