It can be a little complex, but the simple story is that it costs money to run the local council and that cost is paid by Orchard Park residents through the Council Tax...

In June 2009 a new Community Council will be created for Orchard Park - that local council will be responsible for a number of duties, including maintaining all the public facilities (community centre, sports pitches, public open spaces, play areas etc), verges and streetlights, litter bins as well as responsibilities for representing Orchard Park residents with the District and County councils, reviewing planning applications, taking part in major developments such as the the Guided Busway and the A14 widening. The council is also responsible for leading community development and the provision of sports, entertainment and public art.

Whilst the council in Orchard Park will eventually receive some money from Gallagher towards the maintenance of the facilities (eg community centre) that they will transfer to the Council's ownership once they have been built, this money is intended to cover the maintenance costs, not the management/administration costs, developing use of the facilities, or developing the facilities themselves, such as upgrades, replacement etc.

Nor will this money cover all the other council costs - so the council has the power to raise its own money through taxation, through the Council Tax process in fact. And that process is remarkably simple - the Council decide how much money they want, divide it by the number of homes in their community, and then ask the District Council to add that amount to the Council Tax charge for each home. This charge is called the "precept" and in the current year, that charge is just under £70 pounds.

So the real question is how does the council decide how much money they want?

Well that discussion will be starting at the meeting of the shadow council on Wed 10 Dec, 7.30pm at the Orchard Park school - this will be a meeting that is fully open to the public, and where any member of the public will be able to take part in the discussion and ask questions...this opportunity is really important as the shadow council are not formally or democratically elected, but a group of interested residents and other locals who have agreed to be part of this group and abide by a set of model rules that would apply if the council had been formally created at this time.

Just to be upfront and open...I am one of the residents on the shadow council, so should be part of this process myself. Unfortunately, I have a minor operation on Wednesday so can't make this meeting, which I would expect will be extremely formative, and any follow-up meetings are likely to deal only with minor details and final approval.

This first budget will be a little tricky as there are no previous budgets for comparison, no operating history, an inexperienced council and only the vaguest idea of what will be involved in running the various public facilities, if in fact there's any real idea about what facilities will actually be transferred and when!!

As an example, if we make the assumption that it will cost £12k for a part time administrator to look after the community centre, the play areas, public open spaces etc. If only half of the facilities are transferred and these are only transferred half way through the year, then the costs should be closer to a quarter, ie £3k - the budget for this year was just under £30k, so a budget line that could vary by up to £9k is obviously very significant - as much as 30%. Or looked at another way, across the 450 or so homes that will be subject to Council Tax that's £20 per dwelling!! I'm not sure that there's a simple solution to this other than quite extensive planning, so I suspect that the least risky option will be chosen...any funds left unspent at the end of the year are simply put in to the council's reserves.

Another real unknown is how Orchard Park will develop over the next 12-18 months...is there are a vision, a strategy, a plan or are we just going to have to try to react to whatever comes along? How will the community centre and other facilities be used? Do we want the community centre open all day, or just the occasional evening...what about weekends? Will we want to invest money in promoting the use of the facilities, especially the ones we can charge for use? What community groups and associations will form in the next year, and how does the council want to support them? With so many areas as yet undeveloped, what major planning applications will the council need to review, and what professional services will they need to engage to assist with that work? There are already some specific points of dispute with the build of the community centre - what other issues will arise in the next year and at what cost?

Another genuine question would be how do the shadow council ensure that their decisions about public spending bear resemblance to the wishes of the wider Orchard Park community? An interesting solution to this might be to investigate something called "participatory budgeting" (http://www.participatorybudgeting.org.uk/) - this involves local people in making the decisions on the spending and priorities for a public budget, and is an idea that is gaining significant support in the public sector. Of course, one simple way that every resident can assure this would be to be involved with the setting of the budget on Wednesday...