NEWQUAY Town Council has voted not to increase its element of the council tax.
Households living in a Band D property will be paying £300.98 for the 2025-26 financial year, which equates to £5.77 a week. Councillors agreed an expenditure budget of £3,231,614 and a precept of £2,851,214.
Mayor Drew Creek from the Green Party, which is the largest party on the town council, declared the budget will provide “stability” and “fiscal prudence” for taxpayers following the previous Conservative led record of “financial failure” and “mismanagement of assets.”
But Conservative councillors argue the Greens have just “swallowed up” a £250,000 council tax windfall it will receive from second homeowners without providing any additional services despite a nine per cent increase on spending.
Cllr Creek said: “People will be aware the Greens took over the majority on the town council from the Conservatives just over a year ago and they left in their wake a record of financial failure and mismanagement of assets.
“Over the last year Greens and our progressive partners on the council have worked to increase revenue from assets, increase efficiencies and reduce wasteful spending.
“For too long previous administrations have relied heavily on seesawing council tax rises rather than ensuring stability and fiscal prudence for taxpayers, it is particularly important during this cost-of-living crisis that residents in our community know their town council is working to live within its means just as they are being asked to do.
”This year will see the 600 second home owners in Newquay pay double council tax, the town council knows that this source of income cannot be relied upon as the legislation used is weak and second home owners will likely find a way around it next year, as such Newquay Greens felt it was reckless to use this for ongoing budgeting and instead is using this as a one of dividend to replenish plundered emergency reserves.”
Green Cllr Steve Slade added: “Whilst our residents should take this news as an early Christmas present from their hard working Green town councillors unfortunately ours is only about 10 per cent of the total bill and we are aware that Conservative led Cornwall Council have already rubber stamped an eye watering additional 4.99 per cent increase meaning average households will once again be asked to fork out another £100 per year with no new services on offer in fact seemingly Cornwall Council is doing less year on year, as they try to dig their way out of their hundreds of millions of debt.”
Conservative councillors argue the Green Party has had three years to get the town council’s finances in order but say they have not stopped its Mount Wise property from losing £1,000 a week and wasting £100,000 installing vandal proof toilets at the train station, which closed after they were damaged.
Conservative councillor Olly Monk said: “The Greens have not increased the council tax because they are spending the extra £250,000 income Newquay Town Council will receive from second homes whilst at the same not proposing the addition of any extra services.
“I think the town council is already spending far too much money and the residents of Newquay do not see any benefit.
“As the Greens are in charge at Newquay Town Council any such measures to achieve value for the council taxpayer for Newquay would be voted down.
“The Greens have had three years to sort out the town council finances but all they do is hire more and more people and the level of service seems to go down.
“They are treating residents as a cash cow.”
Conservative councillor Andy Hannan added: “After the massive increase in council spending last year, we now have a further nine per cent increase without any improvement in services.
“The extra revenue generated by the holiday homes in Newquay has been squandered on covering up this increase. Certain members of the council think that the residents of Newquay will accept this outrageous increase because there is no increase in the amount, they pay in their council tax.
“We feel that that they are intelligent enough to realise that this extra windfall has been simply thrown away on irresponsible extra council spending.”
Councillor Nick Morris said: “As someone who prioritises value for money in our community, I felt compelled to vote against the budget for several reasons that I believe deserve further scrutiny.
“Firstly, it’s important to recognise that the proposed budget is misleading. While it is being touted as a 0% increase, the reality is quite different.
“The addition of revenue from second homes and new builds totalling approximately 854 means that we are effectively looking at a hidden nine per cent increase in income for the council.
“This scenario is far from the transparency we should expect from our local government. If the precept were truly to reflect a zero per cent increase, we would have seen a decrease in the precept, allowing residents of Newquay a much-needed break on their council tax bills.
“Secondly, there is a growing concern among residents about the decline in the town’s appearance.
“Many community members have voiced their dissatisfaction with how scruffy Newquay has become, and I must agree.
“Since the cessation of weed spraying, the state of some of our public spaces has noticeably deteriorated. This situation is unacceptable, especially for a town that prides itself on its natural beauty and appeal to both residents and tourists alike.”
Lib Dem councillor Joanna Kenny added: “The town council budget was finally agreed to increase the precept, the total tax bill by over nine per cent but keeps the actual charge to our residents the same as last year.
“With all the loopholes in that legislation , no-one expects much of that bonus to last into a second year so expect future rises.
“The cynic in me suspects the freeze in the amount due this year is directly related to the oncoming election next May though I doubt if our residents will have forgotten the huge rise this year by then.”
Conservative councillor Louis Gardner said: ”I voted against the town council budget.
“The proposed rise of spending of £250,000 was to cover past mistakes, £100,000 wasted on railway station toilets and £1,000 per week loss on the Mount Wise building that houses the mayor's personal office.
“Thankfully the £250,000 extra spend won't be passed onto the taxpayer directly it will be covered by the second home levy.
“However this levy could have been used to actually lower council tax or help some of our amazing charities like the foodbank. When councillors tried to question this extra spend we weren't allowed to ask questions and the multi million budget was waved through in 10 minutes.”