Runnymede share of Council Tax rises by ‘less than the price of a cinema ticket’.

Cllr Tom Gracey

Runnymede Borough Council’s share of residents’ Council Tax bills will increase by 2.99 per cent a year from April, it has been confirmed.

That will see our share of the bill rise from £179.55 last year to £184.92 this year, a £5.37 increase for people living in average band D homes. The figure is less than the price of a single cinema ticket.

Runnymede residents will still pay the lowest overall Council Tax in the county and for households in bands A, B and C the increase will be below £5.

Cllr Tom Gracey, Leader of the Council said:

 I believe Runnymede provides the widest range of services of any local authority in the county, and we continue to do so whilst still charging the lowest level of Council Tax in Surrey.
 

On average people will pay £184.92 from April 2023 to April 2024 for our services, and that figure has increased by around £5, less than the price of a cinema ticket. I hope residents will agree that represents incredibly good value for all that we do.

This film explains how residents' Council Tax is used and the proportion of it we have to pass on to Surrey County Council and the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The payment which residents make for Runnymede Borough Council services is just 8.5 per cent of their full Council Tax bill. It gives local people access to, use of or support from dozens of services we provide. These include:

  • Having rubbish and recycling they create removed and processed
  • Providing the best CCTV network in Surrey with a network of 579 cameras
  • Looking after 21 major open spaces including Chertsey Meads, Runnymede Pleasure Grounds and Heathervale Rec as well as dozens of smaller sites
  • Running elections for Parliament, Runnymede Borough Council, Surrey County Council and the Police and Crime Commissioner
  • Managing and distributing benefits to support vulnerable people or those on low incomes
  • Supporting neighbourhood planning which gives communities more say over where they live
  • Creating a Local Plan which balances protecting the environmental character of the borough with sensible development
  • Carrying out environmental health checks to review food businesses’ standards

On top of these, we also run multiple services where users pay towards their cost including:

  • Dealing planning submissions and planning enforcement issues from individual homeowners and developers, (2086 planning submissions and 325 enforcement matters in the last financial year)
  • Providing 12 allotment sites, with a total of 585 plots
  • Running day centres and halls in Egham, Chertsey and New Haw
  • Providing a community transport service
  • Offering a meals at home delivery service
  • Offering a GPS location service for people with dementia, and an alarm service for people who need extra help to live in their own homes
  • Licensing taxis and pubs

Five facts about Council Tax

1. The rate at which our share of Council Tax is set forms part of the Council’s annual budget, which was debated in front of members of the public at our Full Council meeting on 9 February 2023.

2. Runnymede, like all borough councils, has a legal responsibility to collect Council Tax, but we are required by Government to hand over the majority of the money people pay to Surrey County Council and the Police and Crime Commissioner.

3. Based on last year’s bills:

  • 78 per cent of your monthly bill goes to Surrey County Council
  • 14 per cent goes to the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner
  • about eight per cent is kept by Runnymede Borough Council

4. While we are increasing our share of the bill by 2.99 per cent on average, the full increase you pay will be higher because of the county council and police and crime commissioner element of your bill. We have no control over this.

5. We have multiple sources of income which help fund our front line services, as well as important staff like HR offices, lawyers, accountants, communications professionals, surveyors and digital services. The income we received from residents' Council Tax payments makes up less than seven per cent of our total spending.

 

Published: 14 February 2023