Councillor Bill Revans, the leader of Somerset Council has written to all of the Parishes in Somerset explaining how the current financial issues will result in some services traditionally delivered by Somerset Council being devolved to local Parishes. Discussions are ongoing to understand what this might mean for the parish of Templecombe, in order to understand, which services we may have to take over and pay for out of our precept in the 2025-26 financial year.
The paragraph below is taken directly from Cllr Revans letter
‘Somerset Council will not receive details of the draft financial settlement we can expect from Government until late December. This makes it difficult for us to be specific at this stage about what we will be asking for from your councils. I am very aware that this in turn causes difficulty for you in setting your budget and what to precept for. We are assured by the Government that this “cascade of uncertainty” will end with multi-year settlements, which will help us all to plan better for the long term.
In the meantime, my advice would be to build contingency into your budgets to be able to take on services that Somerset Council may not be able to continue.’
The full letter is available to read or print by clicking this link