Barnsley Council proposes 4.9% Council Tax increase

Interesting! They even wrote to me recently saying I might be liable for DOUBLE council tax from this April under a new government initiative regarding second homes. I rang the local office straightaway and explained that this is not a second home - it’s up for sale and we are in rented accommodation near York. Told to wait for the new bill and then call back with proof of what I tried to tell them a couple of weeks ago.

 

That's not quite true there is legislation coming in to charge double for second homes in North Yorkshire but it's misleading at best for them to blame the government for that.

It was the authority that decided to bring this in almost 2 years ago, I know this as I was in the room when it was voted on and agreed with it, there is a similar scheme in Wales that the council modeled it on.

Last I heard it was waiting on Royal assent so it could be implanted hopefully in April.

 

I got the impression when I called that the council tax clerk didn't really know what she was talking about and couldn't wait to get me off the phone. I have no problem with councils penalising rich people who deliberately leave second properties empty most of the year (ie Cornwall, Wales, the Dales etc) but this clearly does not apply to me so I hope they properly deal with it when I call back sometime in March asking for a MUCH reduced council tax bill. I shall take a picture of it when it arrives - could be around £3,500 mark .

Obviously all this will be academic if I get a buyer for the flat. Two viewers in the last few days and they BOTH want a second viewing - these are arranged for tomorrow afternoon.

 

Hopefully it will be sold and you won't have to worry about it.

 

17 days my brown bin has been out, blue a mere 3 but we were told earlier this week, put them out we have extra staff working to address the backlog !!! With kobn out

 

Wasn't there some rule a while back (in all towns) that you couldn't put the "wrong" bins out, and leave them out for days, for fear of getting a council fine? Presume they've dropped that policy although, in theory, it is a good one especially on narrow pavements where these whacking great bins take up too much space.

I suppose the answer is that councils are in a mess at the moment and nothing is really working as it should. Perhaps some spend too much on vanity projects like stupid, ineffective town centre bridges

 

Brown and blue a mere 13 days
Grey just 20 now

I reckon the green will be done before any of them

 

£208 quid a month for a bungalow in Bilton, absolute robbery.

 

Think yourselves lucky. We're getting a bonus £60 a year charge to empty our green bins because my £2.6k council tax bill is insufficient to cover such a premium service.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/politics/...=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1

 

Maybe the binmen are working from home.

 

Or they are just incapable of managing their resources effectively following some snow and ice 3 weeks ago and they lack the accountability to do anything about it.

 

On that subject, and I might be wrong, but I think that councils used to go out and clear the pavements of ice, especially in town centres. Not now it seems - I suppose it's all down to costs. When I travelled over to Harrogate the other week for my weekly check on the empty flat I couldn't believe the amount of snow and ice on the pavements. The main roads had been cleared but they hadn't touched my little road so I had to carefully negotiate the narrow corridor down the middle until I found a parking space outside my house.

I could barely stand once I got out of the car - the snow had come down and iced over making the whole area very dangerous to walk on. I walked down to town later on and it took me about three times longer than normal. I did wonder how many people ended up in hospital over those few days from bad falls on skating rink pavements. It reminded me of that funny bit in a Still Game episode where they all went flying on the ice despite wearing the "special soled shoes", £19.99 from Timpsons

 

Got a bin update lads....

Firstly, "them upstairs" (which I presume is management), are "clueless". So that's probably the first issue.

Secondly, there is a new health and safety directive apparently - which "makes it a right ballache". So, the lads have stopped moving two bins at once and are doing one side of each road at a time - as is the terms of the working agreement, or so I'm told.

So there is a backlog of over ten thousand bins, and this is actually getting worse because the lads are actually not completing their scheduled work due to the new directive - so the delays may get longer.

Thirdly, about 86p a month of council tax goes to waste management he reckons. So keep paying that increase!

As a great man once said, hope this helps.

 

No idea but it’s their problem not mine

 

Hmm....

https://www.barnsleychronicle.com/article/27528/years-of-tory-cuts-leave-barnsley-1bn-worse-off

 

We've been charged £50 p.a for about 5 years now in Harrogate for the garden bin (brown lid here).

 

Garden waste bin was £80 this year. £40 year before, £30 year before and free before that.

£180 to park your car outside. They charged to collect Christmas trees this year too for first time.

All a result of massive cuts from central government funding under the conservatives from 2010 onwards.

 

The manager in charge needs to be sacked for gross incompetence. Not the first time since they came in that they've overseen an absolute shambles with waste collection