At the meeting of Welford on Avon Parish Council meeting held on the 6^th of January 2026 in the Memorial Hall, the budget for the upcoming financial year ending March 2027 was discussed and agreed. The budget covers both costs and income. Our income comes from you the residents via the precept (which is part of your council tax bill) together with payments from developers for houses built in the Parish via a Community Infrastructure Levy (CiL).

In setting the budget we start with looking at what our costs will be. These costs cover ongoing things such as paying for our Parish Clerk, cutting the grass around the village, maintaining Cress Hill, emptying dog poo bins, donations to the Millenium Trust and Welford Matters, audit and administration costs, insurance and paying for the use of the Memorial Hall. There are then significant one-off costs to maintain and improve identified areas of the village such as footpaths and open spaces to improve their provision for all villagers.

Under the improving village facilities, we have budgeted to spend £35,000 on road and traffic safety improvements, hopefully including the footpaths adjacent to the roads. By agreeing to this spend we have managed to secure an additional £25,000 from Warwickshire County Council (WCC) so we will have a total of £60,000 to spend. Costs limit the extent of these works, but discussions are underway with WCC as to what options are available and these will be shared with you when confirmed.

Additionally, we have set aside £46,000 to conclude the long running playing field issue. Under proposals devised by the Parish Council and supported by the school head, the head of school governors and our County and District Councillor, part of the field next to Headland Road with the play equipment on it would be transferred to ownership of the Parish Council on behalf of the village. The £46,000 covers the costs of new fencing, grounds maintenance and legal costs to effect the transfer and new playground equipment.

Cress Hill has a budget set aside of £5,000 for maintenance and a longer-term plan of improvements.

Public Rights of Way (footpaths) that are an integral part of our village have a budget of £5,000 for general maintenance and outstanding surface repairs.

Thanks to the additional precept funding from this year, the shell for the pavilion at Synder Meadow will be completed this financial year. Next year £23,000, already raised by the Fund Raising Team and not spent this year, has been budgeted to be spent. Other than this expenditure the Parish Council have not allocated any further funding for the Synder Meadow Project. We will spend any additional fundraising amounts that are forthcoming.

The budget assumes we raise and spend a total of £77,000 next financial year. This is our balanced budget. For clarity, as promised last year, in the budget, no new precept monies have been allocated to the pavilion.

Having agreed all the items of expenditure and the amounts we can then look at our income. There are some additional CiL monies that are due and included in the budget at £46,482. In reality we are likely to receive some more but have had no guidance from Stratford District Council (SDC).

Lastly, we need to consider how much we hold in reserves. Local Authority guidance is to hold between 50% and 100% of our annual precept. Holding this reserve allows us not only to cover some unexpected costs but also to plan forwards on delivering further improvements to our village.

The upshot of all the above is that we have set the precept this year at £89,286. This represents a reduction from last year of 55%. Band D properties will each contribute c. £95 per annum. This figure is exactly in line with the average charges across other large Parishes within SDC. It also means that if all of the plans in the budget are delivered, we should end the year with a reserve of around £67,000 which is 75% of our precept. This is the level of reserve we are guided to achieve so is in line with the levels of reserve we should have.

A summary of the budget is set out below (pavilion numbers in blue to show that the income and the costs balance)

Income

• Precept : £89,286
• CiL : £46,482
• VAT : £3,000
• Pavilion fundraising : £77,365
• Interest : £839

Total income : £216,972

Expenditure

• Playground : £45,633
• Legal fees : £5,000
• Donations : £4,440
• Highways safety : £35,000
• Cress Hill : £5,000
• Public rights of way : £5,000
• Pavilion (spending monies raised this year) : £22,635
• Pavilion (spending monies raised next year) : £77,365
• Other costs : £26,515

Total expenditure : £226,588