Parish Precept

The primary source of income for most Parish councils comes from the Precept, which is a local tax collected by Central Bedfordshire Council on behalf of the Hockliffe Parish Council.

This money is required to run the council and pay to maintain and improve the facilities, activities and services that we provide and is normally the operational cost difference between expected expenditure and income in any one year. A proportion of this money is prudently held in reserve for either future planned projects and/or unexpected events.

The Precept in Hockliffe declared for 2024/25 is £23,004.00. This equates to £56.80 per household per year or £1.90p per week.

So what do residents get for their £1.90p. per week?

Here are a few things…

Why the parish council matters?

We manage Kilby Road Recreation Ground
We provide a village handyman to carry out maintenance tasks swiftly and efficiently
We maintain the Cemetery at St Nicholas Church
We own and maintain Hockliffe Cemetery
We own three notice boards and two village signs
We maintain two defibrillators in the Village
We own three bus shelters in the Village
We provide litter bins, seating and erect signs and notices as necessary on our land
We arrange and pay for the Christmas tree

Elections are held every four years to allow you to vote for local candidates to sit on the Council.

An Annual Parish Meeting in April of each year for you to voice your opinion on the important issues affecting Hockliffe.

Access to a local Councillor, who will live within easy distance of you and easily contactable and will help wherever possible or signpost you to someone who can.

We are a formal consultative body for all planning applications that are lodged in Hockliffe. The Parish Council comments on all applications and will object to or support applications as it feels necessary.

The right to attend any meeting of the Council or its Committees, (except meetings or part of meetings that may be confidential) and a time is reserved during every meeting for residents to ask questions and/or make statements on any item on the meeting’s agenda.

A place at the table – through local democracy, your Council lobby Central Bedfordshire Council to ensure that decisions made at County level are in the best interest of the Village.

We liaise with National Highways and Central Bedfordshire Council to ensure local issues are managed.

We liaise with the Bedfordshire Police to ensure Hockliffe is on the ‘radar’.

We are transparent in all our dealings and, with the exception of those protected by law, all other documents and financial records are available for public inspection and scrutiny and most are available to view on our website.

All income, whether from the precept or hiring of Kilby Road facilities and cemetery fees, is directed towards undertakings and projects that the Council believe will benefit Hockliffe and/or its residents.

We employ a Parish Clerk to ensure the smooth operation and delivery of council services.

This page is reviewed annually.

Last reviewed – 16th April 2024

Next review date – April 2025