Berrow Parish Council is running a survey inviting residents’ feedback on a possible increase in council tax bills to fund a new £32,500 water heating system at its sports pavilion.
The council says that during a routine inspection of the heaters in April 2024, the council’s contractor condemned one of the water heaters and advised that the other heater would also likely fail within the next 12 months.
The parish council says: “We considered replacing the heaters with a system which would use solar panels, heat pumps and a boiler array. Unfortunately, none of the other options considered would be sufficient to provide enough hot water for the number of changing rooms.”
“We sought several quotations for various options and the costs of replacement are in the region of £30,000 to £35,000.”
The council is therefore consulting residents on taking out a loan from the Public Works Loan Board which would be over a period of 25 years and be for £32,500.
“Grant funding from EDF was also considered, but the lead-in time of approximately 9 months was too long as the heaters need replacing immediately,” says the council.
“Under the plans, the approximate amount of the repayment – which will depend on interest rates at the time of taking out the loan – will be £2,353 per year or £3.80 per band D property per year (7p per week).”
If the heaters are not purchased, the council adds: “The Pavilion would no longer be able to be used by teams using the facilities and the parish council would lose the income this generates. The parish council would still have to pay for the upkeep of the playing fields towards which the fees paid by teams using the facilities is put.”
Responding to a question on why residents who don’t use the facilities should fund the replacement, the council says: “The Sports Pavilion is among a number of facilities provided to residents by the parish council, not all of which are used by all residents.”
“These include the children’s play areas at the Sports Pavilion and in the village centre, the Villlage Green, the cemetery and bin emptying. The sports facilities are used by all age groups from 6 to adult, boys’, men’s’, girls’ and ladies’ teams.”
“The parish council is looking to raise the fees to hire the sports facilities for all hirers to generate more income to help cover the cost of the loan and the upkeep of the facilities to lower the costs via the precept to residents.”
The council ios running a poll with forms available from the Co-op, Post Office and Westcroft farm shop. The poll asks two questions: ‘Are you in favour of the council going ahead with the project of replacement of the water heaters at the sports pavilion?’ and ‘Are you in favour of the council going ahead with the project of replacement of the water heaters at the sports pavilion if it includes the tax precept increase?’
The closing date for receipt of completed surveys is Friday 13th September. The parish council will then consider the responses and take a final decision as to how to proceed with the project once the survey results have been analysed.
A nearby villager says: “This facility is already heavily subsidised by the parishioners of the village, with it appears, the majority of users being non-residents of the village. The Council are proposing to take out the loan over a 25 year period even though the expected lifetime of a commercial boiler is only 15 years, meaning that it would probably need renewing long before the debt is even paid off.”
