A newly introduced ‘Second Home’ Council tax premium, alongside prudent financial planning and a focus on income generation is giving Penzance Council the opportunity to provide more local services, grants for community organisations, and additional anti-social behaviour support, whilst keeping the precept rise for households in the Parish at its lowest in years.

At the Full Council Meeting held on January 13, the Council voted unanimously to adopt a new budget and earmarked reserves for 2025/26, and to increase the precept, in real terms, by £5.82 a year for a Band D property. This represents an annual increase of 1.8 per cent for every household.

Each year, councillors vote on the Council’s budgets for the financial year ahead and decide what the precept will be: this is the amount the council asks residents for to provide local services and maintain public facilities.

As Band D falls in the middle of the eight Council Tax Bands, it is the standard measure used by Councils to announce their precept. However, 80 per cent of households in the Penzance Parish are Council Tax Bands A-C, which means the vast majority of households will see a real-terms increase of £5.18 per year or less. This works out as an extra 10p a week or less.

Cornwall Council has agreed to charge an additional 100 per cent Council Tax premium on second homes from 1 April 2025. There are approximately 434 ‘Band D’ equivalent second homes across the wards of Penzance Council for the 25/26 financial year that will be paying a 100 per cent additional premium on their Council Tax bill. This increases the tax base for the Parish, bringing the precept increase down to 1.8 per cent.

Penzance Council is only increasing the small section of Council Tax that is allocated to the town council; the total Council Tax bill is not increasing by 1.8 per cent. Cornwall Council have not yet decided on their precept for the upcoming financial year but have proposed a Draft Budget which will see Council Tax rise by 4.99 per cent.

Based on last year’s Council Tax bill, Penzance Council’s precept accounted for just 13 per cent of the total bill paid by households in the parish. The remaining 87 per cent was split between Cornwall Council and the Devon & Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner. These shares of the bill will be very similar for the upcoming year.

Cllr Stephen Reynolds, mayor of Penzance, said: “This budget shows that with prudent financial management, it’s still possible to provide high-quality local services and increase grant support for our amazing community groups, while keeping the impact on hard-pressed residents to the minimum.

“I’m really pleased that we will be able to move into new service areas – like improving the level of footpath maintenance across our communities – while at the same time maintaining a healthy level of reserves to meet potential future challenges.”

All the money that residents pay to Penzance Council is spent within the parish across Penzance, Newlyn, Mousehole, Paul, Heamoor, Gulval and Eastern Green. The money is used to provide local services and maintain public facilities including, but not restricted to:

In addition to these services, Penzance Council also provides grants to community organisations and local events which benefit residents in the Parish of Penzance.

The ongoing impacts of the cost-of-living crisis will continue to affect residents in the year ahead so the council will continue to offer funding to local organisations who are working on the ground to support those most in need. In this current financial year, over £60,000 has been awarded in grant funding.

Due to an unprecedented demand on grant applications in 2024, the total grant funding budget was allocated before the end of the financial year. To address this, the grant funding budget has been increased for 2025/2026, making more grants available for community organisations.

As well as this, the precept rise will fund an additional service level agreement with Sustainable Penzance to help support sustainability initiatives; additional anti-social behaviour support across the parish to continue funding street marshal patrols which were piloted in 2024 from Police ‘Hotspot’ funding and graffiti clean ups; a new initiative to support footpath maintenance; the Coach House café development and, as a result, the redevelopment of a new education space and retail offering at Penlee House Gallery & Museum.

Penzance Council is also the lead partner for the Golowan Festival and has secured a three-year agreement with Golowan Festival CIC to deliver the festivals, including an allowance for youth provision over the Mazey Day weekend.

Additionally, Penzance Council has allocated £24,200 funding to Pengarth Day Centre who provide a much-needed service for our older residents with their ‘Meals on Wheels’ and range of activities in their hub in Morrab Gardens.