The bill / statement, whatever it is, for the next 12 months has arrived on the doormat. It's £5 per month DOWN!!!!!
Whoopee!! About time too. After year after year of above, often substantially above, inflation increases it's about time it stood still for a while. I can't say I've ever seen any benefit from these over inflation increases so I have no idea where the money has gone. It's still by far my biggest monthly bill.
John
|
|
Ours has stayed the same. No complaints, its not a big bill anyway.
|
Ours is the same as last year, but I'd paid one month too many last year so it's a lot less now!
Pat
|
|
Mine is still the same as last year.
|
|
Bring back the "poll tax".
|
|
Mine stayed the same as well... About time too.
|
|
Good service in South Lincs. Street lights work, they've made an effort on the potholes, none of this nonsense about not emptying your bin if the lid isn't shut, mobile library twice a month, a few police people, the streets are swept, good schools and all for £110 a month for 10 months (Band D hovel). PS Haven't seen my renewal yet but I think it will be minimal or no increase.
Last edited by: Perky Penguin on Mon 14 Mar 11 at 16:35
|
That's cheap PP, we're in Band B and it's £120 per month for 10 months
Pat
|
|
Much fairer! (The Poll Tax)
Last edited by: Roger on Mon 14 Mar 11 at 17:00
|
>> Much fairer! (The Poll Tax)
>>
I agree. In fact I think Council Tax should be levied on a similar basis to income tax.
|
|
I wouldn't tell the Scots on here that you like it...
|
>> I can't say I've ever seen
>> any benefit from these over inflation increases so I have no idea where the money
>> has gone. >>
The senior management pay and pensions etc. The sort of stuff that will not benefit you.
|
No change at Iffy Towers.
I think I pay a small amount of council tax on the caravan in leafy (but very chilly this morning) North Yorkshire, but it's included in the site rent.
|
Mines £292p/m!! Blumin ripoff. Band H here is £320k or over and you'll struggle to find a 3 bed semi for that. What extra services do I get for spending so much more than the examples above?
We've got pot holes and the libraries are closing. I know you'll say move but it's not always as simple as that.
|
... I know you'll say move but it's not always as simple as that...
Quite so, who's going to buy a pokey three-bed semi for that price and with a great big council tax bill? :)
|
|
Here, bands A to E are pointless. Band E takes you up to £120K (£178p/m) and there isn't even a studio flat available for that.
Last edited by: Enoughalready on Mon 14 Mar 11 at 18:40
|
|
Council tax band were set in 1991 so if a property was valued at £320,000 in 1991 it is most likely worth somewhere near a million now
|
Anybody who want to know what their neighbours are paying in council tax can find the banding for every property in the country here..
www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/cti_home.htm
|
Ha! Band D here and its £1400pa
Thats what you get for a well run Tory council for years.
|
£1546 in Truro (D) it's gorn up another £5 this year, getting tooooo expensive to live in Cornwall what with that and the very high water bills, but at least it keeps the oiks from sowf lunden away,
our 'new' place has it's own water supply which I tasted on Sat, like nectar it woz, got about 0.6 Manganese in it, probably due to a local iron mine (defunct), might consider reverse osmosis, dunno yet,
What with the boar hole and the skeptic tank, we should save a phew bob.
|
Band F - a smidge over £2K. down a few pence a month on last year.
Our neighbours in Bristol pay £250 a year more - guess thats the one of the benefits of living in a well run tory controlled council
|
|
Not got mine in yet, but we are band D and it was just over £700 last year, up about 2.5% this year according to the local rag.
|
|
Dont get your bore hole and your septic tank mixed up.
|
|
Band C and 133 pm round here (West Mids)
|
>>Dont get your bore hole and your septic tank mixed up<<
Easily done, when you're on the pi$$.
|
|
It seems wholly unfair - properties in Wales were re-banded on 05 based on more realistic values. Council Tax is therefore higher here than in England and in a poorer country. I will be in Band H when I move - and for that I get an incompetent council with a history of corruption and about to be run direct from the Assembly by Commissioners because they can't organise themselves.
|
|
I dont seem to recall you being transported there against your wishes?
|
|
You have a point (as usual)
|
>>I get an incompetent council with a history of corruption and about to be run direct from the Assembly by Commissioners because they can't organise themselves.
Did I see the Courteney Love is to be sued for defamation? I suppose you're qualified to defend yourself.
|
|
It's well documented, with suspended and convicted councillors.
|
|
When we moved ere 4 years ago, it was band E, I successfully challenged it and it's now D.
|
|
As the new owners of an extended property we have only just discovered that when an extension is added to a house, re-banding only occurs when the house changes hands :(
|
>>when an extension is added to a house, re-banding only occurs when the house changes hands<<
Same as the cottage we're buying then - band B to band D :(
|
>> It seems wholly unfair - properties in Wales were re-banded on 05 based on more
>> realistic values.
Perhaps I'm being thick, but how would that affect what you pay unless you changed bands... If you still had the old banding, and hadn't changed bands, then the council would still have to charge you what they are now!
The only way what you pay would change would be if the system changed, i.e. to Poll Tax or Local Income Tax... Surely?
|
Bandings were based on house values in 1991.
I assume the welsh re based banding on values in 2005, thereby instantly uprating everyone!
Still someone has to pay for another tier of government, bureaucrats and dual language road signs.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 15 Mar 11 at 09:18
|
>> Still someone has to pay for another tier of government, bureaucrats and dual language road
>> signs.
>>
And free prescriptions. Costs me a blinking fortune every month.
|
|
Isn't it England that pays for the last one?
|
|
Yes, I meant being in England I have to pay.
|
|
I was thinking more along the lines that its us English who pay for theirs! ;-)
|
>> And free prescriptions. Costs me a blinking fortune every month.
You need to get yourself a "season ticket" if you're on 3 or more sets of prescriptions:
www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/ppcdd/patient.do
just over £100 a year for as many as you need - none of this £7odd per pop nonsense.
|
>> I will be in Band H when I move - and for that I>> get an incompetent council with a history of corruption and about to be run direct>> from the Assembly by Commissioners because they can't organise themselves.
>>
Are they Welsh?
|
|
I would imagine so, but I'm not making any assumptions on race.
|
For 2010/11 The bill for an average Band D property is £1,439, up from £1,414,in 2009
The highest Band D bill is in Rutland (£1,689), Hartlepool (£1,671) and Kingston-upon-Thames (£1,663).
The lowest are Wandsworth (£687), Westminster (£688) and the City (£950).
|
City of Manchester hasn't pleasured me with a bill yet. ( prob arrive tomorrow, with the water one )
Still, might get a hovel rebate, as usual.
Ted
|
got mine today for chichester council.
band c at £1488. not to bad buthas gone up about 4percent since last year
|
|
Rather worrying, is it not, that we are now reacting to low or no rises in the cost of a service or commodity by being "grateful". After many months of soaring prices (inflation) central government has cut what it pays out to local authorities who are (most of em, anyway) cutting costs, spending and staff. So why are our council tax bills not going down? Answer: these authorities are still inefficient and protecting jobs, especially the higher levels ones. I am disappointed that big Eric Pickles hasn't come up with a way of forcing a culture change on councils.
|
...forcing a culture change on councils...
On a similar note, the BBC is now 'reconsidering' its decision to close the Asian network because the audience has gone up from one man to one man and his dog.
The BBC is like a council, awash with public money and no conception of value for that money.
Cuts will only be made if forced through at the point of a gun.
Otherwise, it's spend, spend, spend.
|
Band A for us soon= circa £1050.
Interestingly our local council calls us its "customers".
As a customer I usually get to decide what and from whom, I buy goods & services!
Some folk are protesting tinyurl.com/4op52ea the whole concept!
Last edited by: Roger on Tue 15 Mar 11 at 08:26
|
|
They should dump the Community Councils in Wales - an unloved and unwanted layer of LG. The Police precept in N Wales is the highest in Wales due to he way that Brunstrom was spending money as if it was going out of fashion as well.
|
The BBC has had its licence fee frozen for 6 years and now has to fund the entire cost of the world service, formerly funded by the Foreign Office, from the fee. That is a very substantial cut in real terms.
You only have tp compare the cost of a licence fee with a Sky subscription or the cost of buying a newspaper every day to see what value the licence fee actually is.
The only cut I personally would like to see is ageing overpaid disc jockeys on Radio 2 but I am prepared to concede that some people out there like that sort of thing :-)
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Tue 15 Mar 11 at 08:42
|
|
The difference is that there is a choice whether one pays for SKY: the corresponding choice is not available for the TV tax.
|
>> The difference is that there is a choice whether one pays for SKY: the corresponding
>> choice is not available for the TV tax.
Certainly true but in practice I suspect that the proportion of non BBC users is extremely small. You could make the same argument for other services paid from taxation. I don't use schools, swimming pools or libraries but I still pay for them via my council tax.
Of all the things I am forced to pay for the BBC probably represents the best value for money and the the bill I resent least.
|
>> Of all the things I am forced to pay for the BBC probably represents the
>> best value for money and the the bill I resent least.
+1
Ask yourself, if you could have the BBC, BBC web sites, or BBC radio cut off, and save your license fee, would you?
|
>> Of all the things I am forced to pay for the BBC probably represents the
>> best value for money and the the bill I resent least.>>
+ 2
>> Band D ..... The lowest are Wandsworth (£687), Westminster (£688) and the City (£950)>>
Are there any Band Ds in Westminster and the City?
Band E here, £1770, same as last year.
Last edited by: Cheddar on Tue 15 Mar 11 at 10:26
|
|
The BBC could save a fortune by dumping local radio. A whole raft of rubbish stations in direct competition with their own national networks.
|
>> Ask yourself, if you could have the BBC, BBC web sites, or BBC radio cut
>> off, and save your license fee, would you?
No, I'd rather lose my right arm than lose BBC radio. Probably literally. Saying that, I have never met anyone that listens to BBC local radio, I think that would be more deserving of being cut than the Asian Network, which is at least a service not mirrored in the commercial sector.
|
>> Saying that,
>> I have never met anyone that listens to BBC local radio,
I think many people only listen when it's been snowing and they need to find out if a school has been closed.
|
>> >> Saying that,
>> >> I have never met anyone that listens to BBC local radio,
>>
>> I think many people only listen when it's been snowing and they need to find
>> out if a school has been closed.
Local radio is good for RDS traffic info. Say if you are traveling a long way and you have Radio 2 on, the local traffic reports that RDS in are often of genuine use.
|
|
Only trouble is that I find the traffic announcements are out of date, inaccurate or both. I don't think I've ever benefitted from hearing a traffic announcement on any radio station to be honest.
|
"traffic announcements are out of date, inaccurate or both" and for Sheffield. Here we are in Cheshire and if you dare swtch on RDS you'll get traffic news for Sheffiled. Buses usually. What good is bus news on RDS? Who is carrying an RDS radio onto the bus with them?
John
|
BBC Radio Cornwall is very good, I've listened to the lunchtime phone in prog for nigh on 15 years now,
Laurence Reed who hosts the prog does a lot for charity & is a 'household name' down ere.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7nf
|
|
And that, Dog, is why it should probably remain. Just because I don't personally listen to it doesn't, presumably, mean nobody does.
|
'Things' are different out in the sticks of course, Cornwall has similar 'viewing' figures to Cumbria and Guernsey
(sez it all!)
|
>> Only trouble is that I find the traffic announcements are out of date, inaccurate or
>> both. I don't think I've ever benefitted from hearing a traffic announcement on any radio
>> station to be honest.
>>
I don't think they are intentionally dishonest.
|
|
No doubt. And it must be difficult to keep reporting on a constantly moving situation. But I've come to the conclusion I'm better off not hearing/paying attention to them.
|
|
Yep our local radio TAs are full of some bloke who's phoned in on his mobile to say there must be.... oh at least 3 or 4 cars stuck behind a bus at a stop for 30sec... well that's how it comes across to me!
|
>> Only trouble is that I find the traffic announcements are out of date, inaccurate or
>> both. I don't think I've ever benefitted from hearing a traffic announcement on any radio
>> station to be honest.
>>
I suspect it varies drastically between stations, during my years of M3/M27 commuting I found Wave 105's traffic reports invaluable, in return I phoned in up to date incident reports many times; certainly far better than this expensive overhead gantries with out of date information.
|
"I have never met anyone that listens to BBC local radio,"
Here are the listening figures:
www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php
|
|
According to Autocar, probably F1 at 40m pounds a year will go.
|
Trouble with RDS/TA is information overload. Here in Northampton I get alerts for an area bounded by Leicester, Cambridge, North London, Oxford and Birmingham.
I turned it off within five minutes of picking the car up; the important stuff is on 5Live.
|
|
I never listen to the radio, even when driving.
|
|
My TA service cuts in with relevant and up to date local traffic news whatever station I have tuned and even if I am listening to a CD or my MP3 player. Isn't that how it is meant to work?
Last edited by: Perky Penguin on Tue 15 Mar 11 at 18:35
|
yokel radio is run on a tight budget and money has always been tight.
A different league from the silliness in the metropolis.
|
|
Alan Partridge is all they can afford in Norwich anyway.
|
|
Sorry to sound so surprised but I couldn't envisage life without radio. Probably consume about 3 or 4 hours a day including podcasts. TV I could manage without but not radio
|
I don't even have the removable front panel fitted in the quite expensive radio/cd player/blue-tooth/mp3 connectible Alpine unit the previous owner had fitted into our recently acquired car.
SWMBO will have it on, if it is in the car and she occasionally listens to a portable radio she has, but I don't listen in the same way as I don't watch the TV soaps she looks at - even if I am in the same room. I let it wash over me.
Mind you I try not to be in the same room as the TV, if a soap is on.
Being deaf helps as all I have to do is to remove my hearing aid.
I used to listen to Terry Wogan and Classic FM, but I just find the car radio irritating now.
|
...The highest Band D bill is in Rutland (£1,689), Hartlepool (£1,671) and Kingston-upon-Thames (£1,663)...
I've visited both Hartlepool and Kingston-upon-Thames, and I think high council tax must be one of the few things they have in common.
|
You mean the rag and bone men in Kingston upon Thames do not keep their horses downstairs? Wherever do they keep them then?
Told to me by a resident of Hartlepool. I don't think I was having my leg pulled either.
John
|
...Told to me by a resident of Hartlepool...
There's a district of Hartlepool called The Headland.
Even the townsfolk think the people who live out there are strange.
|
Mine came in unchanged this year. £250 a month. Band G in Reading.
But there's a small catch. I got a letter yesterday stating that residents should be very grateful and impressed that charges have not increased this year. However, we can no longer supply you with garden waste collection services unless you cough up 25 pounds sterling for us to do so. An invoice will be issued in April and any non-payers will have their garden waste collection suspended.
Imagine the amount of garden waste which will now go to landfill.
I wonder what other services will miraculously start to fall outside the council tax charge and be billed seperately?
|
I had this mad idea for reforming local government finance and introducing competition.
It's based on the fact that nowadays, mysteriously, it is possible to buy products and services from organisations that have no connection either with the service or your area.
Thus, you can buy electricity from any electricity generator you fancy, or indeed the gas company. You can buy phone services from Tesco. Doubtless there are lots of other examples. They may use the same wires and pipes, but that apparently is irrelevant.
So, why not local services providers? If you don't think Derbyshire CC is giving a good service or is too expensive, you can switch to Cornwall CC, or Scottish Electricity, or Tesco.
Obviously the same staff will actually carry it out, exactly like it being the same man who climbs up the pole to mend the phone wire, but he will be under contract to his real provider, who will drive a hard bargain and force the price down.
Councils who are too expensive will just lose business and shut down.
|
Wow. Great idea. The local politicians would hate it. :-)
But are we actually any better off as consumers with a choice of utilities providers?
|
>>
>> But are we actually any better off as consumers with a choice of utilities providers?
>>
I think we were for a few weeks/months/years, then the rot set in.
|
Yes, but wouldn't it be satisfying to be able to tell your council that you wouldn't be needing their expensive services next year, and you were going to use someone else?
Then their smug overpaid CE would have to grovel to the new paymaster and maybe renegotiate his job back at a reduced salary.
And if I didn't think much of their standard of pot-hole repair, I could chose my own pot-hole repairer from a comparison website, order online, and they'd be fixed within 2 working days.
The council 3 men in a truck with a load of cold tarmac would be tendering for the contract, or on their bikes.
|
Council tax bill - Stuu
