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7:10pm Sunday 30th October 2011 in News
By Peter Magill, Chief reporter
DEBTORS, landlords, taxi drivers and whistleblowers are being targeted as part of plans by Pendle Council to recoup more than £77,000.
Extra fees will be sought from council tax and non-domestic rates defaulters, recovering an additional £16,000 in 2012-13.
And the hourly rate for building control work will be increased by 20 per cent from £42.73 to £51.22.
An explosion in the number of Freedom of Information Act requests, enquiring into the running of the authority, has sparked a review into charging for more complex cases.
The council dealt with around 70 per year when the act was first introduced in 2005 but 320 requests were lodged in 2010-11 and there has been 219 in the first six months of the current council year.
Taxi drivers will also be expected to pay the £44 required for a Criminal Records Bureau check, salvaging £8,000.
Several fees and charges, such as market rents, parking permits, local land charges and stray dog penalties, will remain the same, and others will rise by the current inflation rate of 4.7 per cent.
Coun Linda Crossley, finance cabinet member, said: "Our priority is to protect the services that matter most to residents.
“This is one way we’re managing our finances in a bid to protect these vital services.”
The cost of dealing with rodents and wasps is also set to increase by 15.4 per cent, from £26 to £30.
Dean Langton, the council’s finance head, said: “Where we're proposing an increase, in most cases it’s in line with inflation or less.
“Like every other council in the country, we're always looking at ways to achieve a balanced budget while maintaining our services.”
Most of the increases will come into force at the start of 2012.
Comments(8)
aleevio1
says...
12:46am Mon 31 Oct 11
aleevio1
says...
12:58am Mon 31 Oct 11
Lifeinthemix
says...
10:24am Mon 31 Oct 11
Izanears
says...
4:15pm Mon 31 Oct 11
Izanears
says...
4:18pm Mon 31 Oct 11
bikerjohn_uk
says...
10:50am Wed 2 Nov 11
Lifeinthemix wrote:Yes, and both Abraham Lincoln and JFK got assassinated for their troubles...
are we not sick to the back teeth of taking the rap for the insanity of private corporate bankers, and the corporate controlled government and crown?
£468.9 billion collected in tax off the people each year, and we need this fiat currency why?
remove the corporate fascists and print our currency without interest, it worked for Lincoln and JFK was following the same. they called them greenbacks, we can call ours corrie-enders-united
...sort of covers the majority....
will12
says...
8:09am Thu 3 Nov 11
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Lifeinthemix says...
12:46am Mon 31 Oct 11
£468.9 billion collected in tax off the people each year, and we need this fiat currency why?
remove the corporate fascists and print our currency without interest, it worked for Lincoln and JFK was following the same. they called them greenbacks, we can call ours corrie-enders-united
...sort of covers the majority....