"It's wrong...give people their money back" plea over Morecambe Town Council tax controversy

A Morecambe town councillor says residents have been phoning him at his home demanding their money back over a Council tax rise controversy and says "it's wrong" to hold onto it.

Councillor John Hanson told his fellow councillors to find a way to give back all the funds raised for a hoped-for project on the former Frontierland site, which is now not going ahead.

His comments came as Morecambe Town Council voted through its budget for 2024/25 which does cut Council tax compared to last year, but stops well short of covering £1m from the controversial 'Frontierland tax'.

Instead, £150,000 will be used to fund a Council tax reduction, with £850,000 remaining in the town council's reserves.

Town residents will have to pay 33 per cent less tax to Morecambe Town Council than last year.

On a Band D property, this works out as a drop from £146.25 in 2023/24 to £97.56.

In 2022/23, Band D taxpayers paid £44.11.

The overall precept (total money collected from Morecambe residents) will be £951,384.33. The town council's share of Council Tax is only four per cent of residents' overall bill, with the rest going to Lancashire County Council (including for adult social care), Lancaster City Council, the police and fire services.

Last year Morecambe Town Council raised £1,431,853.66 from taxpayers, rising 231 percent from £425,250.45 in 2022/23.

The extra £1m was raised to create a 'Community Action Fund' to support the future use of the eyesore Frontierland site (pictured below).

Landowners Lancaster City Council were looking for ideas to develop the former fairground site and the town council put forward its own plans on behalf of the people of Morecambe, wanting to use the £1m to leverage more funding in future.

But opponents of the plan said this was "double taxation" as the city council owned the land.

Following the local elections, the council did a U-turn led by new councillors, withdrawing its expression of interest in the land in July, and sought legal advice on how to reallocate the £1m. They have been advised there is no "financial mechanism" to directly refund the money.

Councillors who voted for the budget on Thursday said they hoped to be able to "trickle back" more of the money to Morecambe residents in future years.

But Councillor Hanson said: "People are ringing me up at home asking for it back.

"Why aren't they getting it back?

"If we've got £1m in the bank from Council tax, and it's there, I don't get it. They want it back. It's as simple as that.

"It's not our money. It's wrong. Give people their money back. There must be some way."

Councillor Hanson and his Labour colleague Margaret Pattison both abstained during the vote on the budget. Five other Labour councillors supported it, as well as 12 Morecambe Bay Independents, four Liberal Democrats and one independent.

Councillor Claire Cozler, chair of the town council and also of Labour (pictured below), said: "The best option we can do is to pay it back to people year on year, and still have legal reserves."

Councillor Joanne Ainscough, of Labour, said: "I was vehemently opposed to the Frontierland (rise) in the first place.

"But we now have staff, and we have to ensure their jobs are safe.

"We have commitments to keep things tidy through maintenance that we are being asked to do by residents.

"Previous administrations created the situation we are now in. They didn't raise the precept.

"We now have to unpick and unwind and do it in a way that we're not wasting any more money.

"We can't give £1m back (in 2024/25). Then, we wouldn't have any reserves and we'd be looking to reduce our services. It has to be gradual."

Councillor Geoff Knight, of the Morecambe Bay Independents, said: "I have been one of the most outspoken people about getting that money back to residents.

"We've managed to get some of that money back to them this year. This isn't a promise, but hopefully it will be all of it eventually.

"(With this budget) then we can top up our reserves and then some of that money can trickle back to residents."

It's been recommended that Morecambe Town Council keeps a minimum of 25 per cent of annual expenditure as a General Reserve.  

Their predicted spend for 2024/25 is just over £1.1million. This includes £464,180 on town maintenance, £199,000 on cultural services, £35,000 on community grants, £57,000 on community engagement, £404,500 on corporate services, and £5,000 on planning and regeneration.

Councillor Geoff Knight said: "We have to get the books balanced and make everything stable.

"These budget figures are top line figures. That doesn't mean we have to spend all that money."

At the time the 'Frontierland tax' was agreed in February 2023, the Liberal Democrats were the largest group on the council.

Councillor Paul Hart, of the Lib Dems (pictured below), said at Thursday's meeting: "It's one of the oldest things in politics to blame the previous administration.

"I'm proud of what the previous administration did. 

"Right now, we could be taking a much fuller part with Lancaster City Council (over the future of Frontierland).

"But the public voted against it. I accept that fully.

"We need stability. I think wanting £1m back in one go, these are foolish things."

HOW MORECAMBE TOWN COUNCIL SPENDS YOUR MONEY

The 2024/25 budget shows a rise in money for local festivals, up from £100,000 to £120,000.

Funds for community grants have also risen, from £25,000 to £35,000.

Council staffing costs, which were budgeted at their highest ever (£361,000) in 2023/4, will rise again in 2024/5.

The town council will also be spending more this year on "tidying up Morecambe".

It has the contract to provide weeding services throughout the Lancaster and Morecambe district (for which they are paid just over £63,000 by Lancashire County Council for four months of the year) and employs a team of four full-time Town Rangers, and two casual staff, to carry out weeding and other public realm works in the town.

Speaking on Thursday, Luke Trevaskis, proper officer, said that Morecambe Town Council taxpayers were not subsidising weeding services in other parts of the district, but within the town boundaries only.

Councillors also agreed on Thursday to buy a new van and trailer for the Town Rangers, at a cost of around £45,000 to the council.

Read more about the 2024/25 budget here: Morecambe Town Council proposes tax cut but no full refund of controversial £1m Frontierland hike - Beyond Radio

WHO VOTED FOR THE BUDGET

Councillors Geoff Knight, Roger Dennison, Russell Walsh, Clark Kent, Keri Gee, Dan Blacow, Wayne Dixon, Martin Bottoms, Lee Bradbury, Debbie Knight, Faye Cooper and Jason Slater (MBIs), Claire Cozler, Joanne Ainscough, Christian Ainscough, David Whitaker and John Goodrich (Labour), Paul Hart, John Livermore, Jim Pilling and Monika Stenneken (Lib Dem) and Trish Clarke (independent) voted for the 2024/25 budget at Thursday's meeting, held at Morecambe Town Hall.

Councillors Margaret Pattison and John Hanson (Labour) abstained.

MORECAMBE TOWN COUNCIL STATEMENT ON ITS 2024/5 BUDGET

"Morecambe Town Council is confident it can deliver a balanced budget whilst providing a year-on-year saving for its residents through a reduction in the council’s precept of £48.69 (33%), rolling back 47.7% of last year’s increase," said a statement published on the town council website.

"Morecambe Town Council has gone through a rapid period of growth over the last three years, with annual precept increases required to reflect this.

"These would have been less significant if there had been reasonable annual increments applied during the past 14 years. 

"This also reduced the council’s ability to build an adequate reserve, as the precept was primarily required to resource the council’s annual expenditure.  

"During this period the council’s role was primarily a reactive one, responsible for distribution of community grants and management of the occasional event. The level of staffing and budget reflected this. 

"Across a similar period (from 2007 to present day) the second-tier authority, Lancaster City Council, experienced a near 40 per cent cut in central government funding while the thirdtier authority, Lancashire County Council, had to regularly find multi-million-pound savings. 

"In reaction to these circumstances, Morecambe Town Council resolved to try and play a more proactive role and reduce the potential risk of watching a decline of services in Morecambe.

"This resulted in consecutive c.50 per cent rises in the precept, bringing it to £44.11 in 2022-23 - still £33.10 below the national average. 

"For 2023-2024, the council set a revenue budget of £739,000 (including VAT). It also raised a £1m Community Action Fund (CAF) to pursue a regeneration project on the former Frontierland site. 

"Whilst the council ‘froze’ the precept collected in 2023-2024 for its revenue budget, it required an overall increase in the precept of 231 per cent to raise the CAF. 

"Since collecting the CAF Reserve, a new administration has been elected and a new direction established, exploring alternative ways of responding to current community needs. 

"Discussions have been held with elected representatives regarding the reallocation of CAF funds, and careful consideration has been given to all options by the council’s Finance and Governance Committee, with their recommendation following. 

"Councils are recommended to hold a minimum of 25 per cent of annual expenditure as a General Reserve.  

"Prior to 2021 and the significant period of growth that followed, the council held little to no reserves.

"In order to raise the CAF in 2023/24, the council pooled all its reserves. Had the council not raised the £1m, it would still have had to raise the precept by approximately £70 per Band D household across the following two years to resource the expanded services delivered by the council and create a minimum general reserve of 25 per cent against projected annual expenditure.

"Now that Morecambe Town Council is delivering such a significant service for the town, particularly via the work of the Town Rangers, it is more important that general reserves are maintained at the level required to safeguard that (and other) services."

THE MORECAMBE MP

Meanwhile, David Morris, MP for Morecambe, petitioned Parliament on Thursday, calling for the town council to give back the £1m to taxpayers "by any means possible".

Mr Morris also spoke in Westminster on Wednesday calling for the government to take action to "stop my community from being ripped off".

Simon Hoare, Minister for Local Government, has said he will write to Mr Trevaskis to ask "what they are proposing to do with this large sum of money sitting in their accounts, raised for a specific purpose which has become obsolete."

Read more: Morecambe MP to bring petition to Parliament after residents demand action over "rip-off" Council tax - Beyond Radio