Most households in the parish will see an increase of less than 10 pence a week.
A newly introduced ‘Second Home’ Council tax premium, alongside prudent financial planning and a focus on income generation is giving Penzance Council the opportunity to provide more local services, grants for community organisations, and additional anti-social behaviour support, whilst keeping the precept rise for households in the Parish at its lowest in years.
At the Full Council Meeting held on 13 January, which was open to the press and public, Penzance Council voted unanimously to adopt a new budget and earmarked reserves for 2025/26, and to increase the precept, in real terms, by £5.82 a year for a Band D property. This represents an annual increase of 1.8% for every household.
Each year, Councillors vote on the Council’s budgets for the financial year ahead and decide what the precept will be: this is the amount the council asks residents for to provide local services and maintain public facilities.
As Band D falls in the middle of the eight Council Tax Bands, it is the standard measure used by Councils to announce their precept. However, 80% of households in the Penzance Parish are Council Tax Bands A-C, which means the vast majority of households will see a real-terms increase of £5.18 per year or less. This works out as an extra 10p a week or less.
Cornwall Council has agreed to charge an additional 100% Council Tax premium on second homes from 1 April 2025. There are approximately 434 ‘Band D’ equivalent second homes across the wards of Penzance Council for the 25/26 financial year that will be paying a 100% additional premium on their Council Tax bill. This increases the tax base for the Parish, bringing the precept increase down to 1.8%.
It should be noted that Penzance Council is only increasing the small section of Council Tax that is allocated to the town council; the total Council Tax bill is not increasing by 1.8%. Cornwall Council have not yet decided on their precept for the upcoming financial year but have proposed a Draft Budget which will see Council Tax rise by 4.99%.
Based on last year’s Council Tax bill, Penzance Council’s precept accounted for just 13% of the total bill paid by households in the parish. The remaining 87% was split between Cornwall Council and the Devon & Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner. These shares of the bill will be very similar for the upcoming year.
Councillor Stephen Reynolds, Mayor of Penzance, said: “This budget shows that with prudent financial management, it’s still possible to provide high-quality local services and increase grant support for our amazing community groups, while keeping the impact on hard-pressed residents to the minimum.
“I’m really pleased that we will be able to move into new service areas – like improving the level of footpath maintenance across our communities – while at the same time maintaining a healthy level of reserves to meet potential future challenges.”
All the money that residents pay to Penzance Council is spent within the parish across Penzance, Newlyn, Mousehole, Paul, Heamoor, Gulval and Eastern Green. The money is used to provide local services and maintain public facilities including, but not restricted to:
- 7 Public Toilets and the Community Toilet Scheme
- An Anti-Social Behaviour Caseworker
- 19 CCTV cameras in Penzance Town Centre
- Wherrytown Skateboard Plaza
- Penlee Park
- Penlee House Gallery & Museum
- Princess May Recreation Ground
- Alexandra Play Park & Tennis Courts
- Heamoor Old School Field
- Parish-wide weeding – around 120km of pavements across the whole Parish
- Watering the hanging baskets in the town centre during the summer
- Penzance Town Christmas Lights and Christmas Tree
A full list of Penzance Council services is available online: www.penzance-tc.gov.uk/what-we-do
In addition to these services, Penzance Council also provides grants to community organisations and local events which benefit residents in the Parish of Penzance. The ongoing impacts of the cost-of-living crisis will continue to affect residents in the year ahead so the council will continue to offer funding to local organisations who are working on the ground to support those most in need.
In this current financial year, over £60,000 has been awarded in grant funding to: Growing Links CIC, MusicAbility CIC, Global Jamming, Penzance Rotary Club, Chapel Street Music, Heamoor CIO, Newlyn Harbour Lights, Devon and Cornwall Watch, Montol Festival CIC, St. Piran in Penwith, Penzance Literary Festival, PZN Youth CIC, Cornwall International Male Choral, Global Jamming, Hypatia Trust, Mounts Bay Academy, Newlyn Regeneration CIC, Sea Salts and Sail, Penzance Community Flora Group, YMCA, Paul Cricket Club, Quiet Connections CIC, Penzance Studios and Treneere Team Spirit.
Due to an unprecedented demand on grant applications in 2024, the total grant funding budget was allocated before the end of the financial year. To address this, the grant funding budget has been increased for 2025/2026, making more grants available for community organisations.
As well as this, the precept rise will fund an additional service level agreement with Sustainable Penzance to help support sustainability initiatives; additional anti-social behaviour support across the parish to continue funding street marshal patrols which were piloted in 2024 from Police ‘Hotspot’ funding and graffiti clean ups; a new initiative to support footpath maintenance; the Coach House café development and, as a result, the redevelopment of a new education space and retail offering at Penlee House Gallery & Museum.
Penzance Council is also the lead partner for the Golowan Festival and has secured a three-year agreement with Golowan Festival CIC to deliver the festivals, including an allowance for youth provision over the Mazey Day weekend. The festival has been an important part of the town’s calendar for over thirty years and is much loved by locals and visitors alike. Additionally, Penzance Council has allocated £24,200 funding to Pengarth Day Centre who provide a much-needed service for our older residents with their ‘Meals on Wheels’ and range of activities in their hub in Morrab Gardens.
Councillor Nigel Pengelly, Chair of the Finance and General Purposes Committee, added: “As the financial pressures on local authorities exacerbate and town councils, like Penzance, take on the responsibilities of larger councils, I think it’s a huge achievement to keep the precept rise to less than 2 per cent – and less than inflation.
“Penzance Council has ambitious plans for the town and this budget increase – although just 1.8 percent – will enable the council to deliver these services. I’d like to thank council officers for their hard work with the budget setting and helping keep costs to a minimum in these difficult times.”
View the full breakdown of budgets here.
View a draft copy of the meeting minutes here.
How we set our precept:
Ahead of the Full Council Meeting on 13 January, the Chair and Lead Officer of each standing Committee that has an individual budget (Arts & Culture, Finance & General Purposes, and Leisure & Amenities) formed draft budgets for the coming financial year.
To ensure full scrutiny was given and to allow open discussion, the proposed budgets went through each Committee once, at meetings that were open to the press and public to attend and participate.
Independent accountants, who specialise in Local Government finance, were also contracted to examine the budgets and precept, and to provide financial advice and suggestions to the Committee Chairs and senior Council Officers. Anyone who thinks they will struggle to pay their Council Tax is encouraged to contact Cornwall Council’s Benefits Team to find out whether they could be eligible for Council Tax Support which could cover some of the costs of their bill. The team can be contacted by phone: 0300 1234 121 or visit: http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/benefits-and-support/council-tax-support/can-i-claim-council-tax-support
