Residents will soon be invited to top up their Council Tax with a voluntary contribution to fund local amenities and services.

B&NES Council is borrowing an idea from Westminster City Council, where officials have netted £1million since 2018 to fund local projects. 

The community contribution fund will be run by the authority as a one-year trial and then could be spun out as a separate charity. 

Councillor Alastair Singleton told a scrutiny panel meeting on September 28th: “The purpose should be to increase the Council’s ability to deliver on its priorities. It is a way to increase income at a time when income is under pressure to support services that might otherwise be cut. 

“I have a real concern that if it were to be a separate charity it would compete with a number of similar benevolent funds like St John’s, Genesis or DHI.” 

B&NES Council voted to follow its lead in July after calls from residents who said they wanted to pay more, and a motion from the Labour group.

Cllr Andy Furse said: “Parks, libraries, youth services are three things that will, as we’re cash-strapped, get cut and cut. They will forever be on the low priority list. 

“If you get into social care and children’s services that are hugely funded, that small amount could be swallowed up. It needs to be non-statutory services that benefit.”  

Cllr Hal MacFie agreed: “Having an independent charity is a good way to go. I wouldn’t want it to be providing services the Council has cut. We should identify things that are worth doing and should be generic rather than ward-based.” 

Cllr Lucy Hodge said the system should be kept simple, with boxes to tick on Council Tax forms, and could be like Waitrose’s Community Matters Scheme, which gives shoppers a say on how their money is spent by voting with a token. 

“It’s about people with extra money funding the nice-to-have services that are going to be cut, the services the local authority can’t deliver any more.”

Stephen Sumner, LDRS