THE idea about the parish build up with regard to them taking on more tasks and the starting up of more actual parishes in the town, has been on the radar for some time and however the council dress it up, it will mean more taxes for residents. Can I ask the following to Coun Elliott who seems to be the person in charge of this current fiasco: will the new devolved tasks be transferred from the council with the amount now being paid to the council for these jobs also being passed to the parish?

Will the new parish concept mean there will be less need for so many ward councillors and so reduce the council wage bill? Parish councillors don’t get paid.

Will this mean the new parish councils will get a large income from the council tax and so those who have higher bands get more money and those with less, ie Penhill, get even less?

If this money is not passed over then surely it must be raised by means of the parish council precept tax, so will mean another tax rise, albeit by the back door.

The council can only raise the current council tax by a certain percentage so can’t ask for any more and the passing of these duties will cut out the burden of the payments.

Can Coun Elliott tell us how much he thinks the new parish precept payments will be? The current payment for the Stratton parish is around the £125 mark, and they can’t even afford to provide the necessary for the pond in Stratton.

The council debt is moving nearer to the £300 million mark so has to be addressed, but surely they must go back to central government and ask for more rather than just accepting their lot and getting the people who voted for them to pay even more.

Will this be in next year’s manifestos?

T Reynolds Wheeler Avenue Swindon