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Details have been released of Babergh District Council’s forthcoming public meeting into the affordability of a new pool for Hadleigh.
Starting at 7.30pm at the Town Hall, Hadleigh on Wednesday 31st August, residents will have the chance to browse an exhibition of the key facts relating to the issue before being invited to write down any questions they want to put to a panel of local politicians. These will then be put to the panel by Paul Geater, Political Editor of the Evening Star, who will chair the meeting.
Babergh’s Chairman of the Strategy Committee, Cllr. Nick Ridley will be on the panel. Each of the four political groups on Babergh District Council (Conservative, Independent, Labour and Liberal Democrat) has been invited to send a representative to form part of that panel.
Residents attending the exhibition and meeting will also be asked to submit their views via a short questionnaire as to whether they would be willing to pay extra on their Council Tax bills (estimated to be £5.20 per year per Band D property) for the new pool and whether other Babergh priorities, such as building affordable homes, should be reduced to pay for the pool.
The results of this questionnaire will be fed into Babergh’s State of the District process which is made up of three Residents’ Forums and a half day workshop (the ‘State of the District Event’). The views and responses expressed during these public gatherings will in turn contribute to the State of the District Debate in October where Babergh Councillors will start to map out the shape of the budget and their service priorities for 2006/07.
Cllr. Ridley has said, following the recent Strategy Committee debate on Hadleigh Pool that “The key question facing both residents and Councillors over any new pool in Hadleigh is one of affordability. Babergh District Council has a stated aim of keeping any Council Tax increases to no more than the rate of inflation. Equally, we know that the Government could ‘cap’ the budgets of any Council which in its opinion increases its Council Tax by too high an amount. There are no easy options – but we do want to hear the considered thoughts of residents and answer any questions they may have”.
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