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DO NOT RAISE COUNCIL TAX Literary festival in full swing
WANTAGE’S Not Just Betjeman Festival is in full swing and ticket sales are far eclipsing previous years, according to the organiser. It is the third year the festival, which began on Saturday, has been staged. And artistic festival director and founder
Jim Mitchell, pictured right alongside novelist Robert Harris, said he was “chuffed� with how things are going. “It’s going excellently – we’re still selling tickets left, right and centre. We’re dead chuffed,� he said. The festival lasts until Sunday.
Residents speak out at budget cuts meeting with council chiefs
WAN WANTAGE residents made their ffeelings li clear at a recent council meeting by emphasising they did not want a rise in council tax. Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth, and chief executive officer Joanna Simons, were in Wantage Civic Hall on Monday to offer residents the chance to air their views and concerns regarding budget cuts. And when they asked those who had gathered at the packed out meeting room – around 150 are said to have attended – whether the required cuts could be met by raising tax prices by 20 per cent, they received little backing. Estimates vary, but it is reported no more than a third were willing to pay the proposed 22 per cent price hike. The county council need to
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make cuts of ÂŁ61million, due to lack of government funding. “We had a discussion about all services, and quite a few people said they could not afford any increase in council tax,â€? said Cllr Hudspeth. “They don’t want council tax to go up and obviously we’ll take that into consideration. “Probably less than 30 per cent of people wanted a 20 per cent rise – that was different from other evenings where people were in favour of a rise.â€? Concerns were also voiced about plans to close 37 of the 44 children’s centres around the county, although Cllr Hudspeth reiterated no fi nal decisions had been taken on this. Some were also worried about the infrastructure problems created by the amount of new houses proposed for Wantage and Grove.
Wantage and Grove’s Liberal Democrat county councillor Zoe Patrick, who was at the meeting, said: “They asked ‘would you increase council tax to pay for all of the (22 per cent) – only a very small percentage of people in the room agreed to that. “There was one person there who had learning disabilities, and he got a huge round of applause when he said ‘I cannot afford it’.� Both Cllrs Hudspeth and Patrick agreed the meetings were positive, in that it gave residents the chance to make their concerns clear. Cllr Hudspeth and Ms Simons have also held meetings in Oxford, Banbury and Didcot, and are in Witney tonight. A meeting for residents living in rural areas will be held in Woodstock on November 24. “Really what I appreciate is what people think we shouldn’t be doing and how we can make those savings,� added Cllr Hudspeth.
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