Agenda item

The Deputy Leader / Portfolio Holder for Finance, Town Centres and Growth introduced the report on the review of the Council’s fees and charges made to keep them in line with the cost-of-service provision and ensure compliance with the Charging Policy.

Cllr Waring asked how common it was to receive fees for the exhumation of cremated remains as well as fines for littering and graffiti.

The Deputy Leader said the Council would prosecute every time they could identify the authors of vandalism.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) advised that there were litter enforcement procedures, which depended on somebody actually littering in front of the enforcement officer. People seemed to have gone wiser in recent years leading to a drop in related incomes.

Cllr Waring wondered who would exhume cremated remains as an act of vandalism and whether there were any statistics on this.

The Deputy Leader clarified that it related to cases where people would move house and wish for the remains to be buried at another location.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) said he would seek out the figures and provide them to Cllr Waring.

Cllr Stubbs asked for the evidence and cost recovery modelling used to justify service fees increases above inflation and if any assessment had been made on the impact for low-income residents.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) responded that on average fees had gone up by 3.8%, with some slightly more and some other slightly less. Lots of the fees and charges were about choices to use specific services and increasing those by only an inflationary amount helped keeping the Council tax at a £0.10 per week increase i.e. 1.99% per year for 95% of our residents.

Cllr Stubbs commented that using certain services like cemetery services was not always a choice and the increase of car parking fees would discourage low-income residents to come into the town centre.

Cllr Stubbs also wondered what the strategic rationale was for having different levels of variations between the fees and charges – some going up above the inflation and some other below – and whether these were driven by financial sustainability or regulatory costs.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) advised that the Charging Policy suggested that the Council should try and recover all costs of providing services. The fees and charges were designed to address the costs incurred in e.g. the provision and maintenance of car parks and associated buildings. There were also rounding differences.

The Service Director added that the fees were kept to a minimum compared to other areas of the Midlands.

Cllr Stubbs appreciated the response, meanwhile expressing his concern that the offer may not improve in future and people would not be willing to pay the difference to come to the town centre.

The Service Director for Finance (S151 Officer) said that the offer was likely to improve over the next couple of years with the regeneration projects coming together. Newcastle would be a town to come to and a town to be very proud of which himself would certainly be.

The Deputy Leader supported the statement adding that there was already more and more footfall recorded in the town. As the Midway car park fees only went up by 10p in 15 years it was also fair to ask that any increase be justified.

The Chair concluded by emphasising that increasing the fees by a smaller amount than that proposed would mean raising the Council tax to recover the costs of services.

The Deputy Leader commented that the cemetery fees were in fact only partly covering the costs incurred by the Council.

Cllr Parker added that the parking fees were designed to create an incentive for people to get quarterly or monthly tickets and save money.

Cllr Grocott enquired about the sports facilities and asked if there was a single fee for using the pavilion and football pitches or if these were separate fees given that the pavilion was often not used by players.

The Chair noted that a written response would be provided by officers.

Cllr Waring said that not everyone was using the services. Finding the right balance was of the essence and increasing fees for actual users felt fair as opposed to raising the Council tax.

Resolved:     That the fees and charges proposed to apply from 1 April 2026, as set out in Appendix 1 and 3 be noted.

Watch the debate here