Residents weigh in on proposed council tax hike
BBCA Shrewsbury Town Council committee has approved a 95% increase in its share of council tax.
If approved by the full council, it would mean about £60 extra a year for a Band B property.
In a bid to balance its books, Shropshire Council has asked town and parish councils to take on some services, such as street sweeping and litter picking. But to address the responsibilities, the lower tier authorities may have to charge residents more through the localised proportion of their wider tax contribution.
Some Shrewsbury residents have told the BBC the planned increase would be too much.
While council leader Rob Wilson maintained public consultation showed 79 per cent of respondents wanted services to be protected even if it cost more, the voices on the streets of Mount Pleasant and Harlescott sang a different tune.
"We're paying enough at the minute, and nothing much gets done for what we're paying," said resident Karen Jarvis.
"If they do put it up, are they going to do the jobs that they say they're going to do?
"With everything going up today, people haven't got the money to pay extra, people out there that can't afford heating... [An extra] £60 might not be a lot for some people, but to others, like struggling families, it's going to be really high for them."
Wilson said the consultation also revealed that 71 per cent of respondents identified that they wanted street cleaning to be improved, and they would like to see responsibility go to the town council.
As well as his responsibilities in Shrewsbury, he sits as a senior Liberal Democrat member of Shropshire Council, which is led by the party.
Resident Sean Ward said he did not feel the potential increase was fair.
"Everything's sky high and we've got bills coming in now for the energy and everything like that, and people just can't afford it," he told the BBC.
"It's just going to keep going up… a lot of the councils these days now have gone bankrupt through their own fault, and they expect people to bail them out."
He said he believed the government should give local councils more money.
In December, Shropshire Council submitted a bid for a £15m government loan to save it from effective bankruptcy.
That month, the government put forward provisional funding levels for local councils for the next three years.
Shropshire Council was awarded £151.5m in 2024/25.
In the next financial year it has been told it will receive £148.9m, then in 2027/2028, £142.7m - and in 2028/2029, £136.3m.
"To be fair I think it's a bit ridiculous, I think it's way too much," said resident Ione Burton.
"I don't see why we should spend any more money."
She said if services improved "it would be completely different".
'We can't sit on our hands'
Wilson said: "For someone in Band B, it's going to be about £1.30 a week, and if we consider that 71 per cent of houses in Shrewsbury are Band A or B, the vast majority of residents will not see a particularly large increase.
"I don't think we can sit on our hands, our residents are saying they want something done, they're saying they're willing to pay for it, if that's what it means, so we're listening to our residents and doing what they ask."
He added that residents would not be paying more for the same service, if the rise came in.
"Shropshire will be paying for the minimum level of service, they'll be paying the town council to provide it, the town council will be making a choice... If it agrees to do that in its budget this month, it will improve that service above and beyond the current level."
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