Budget 2026-27 - agreed.xlsx

	A	B	C	D	E
1	STAPLEFORD PARISH COUNCIL: AGREED BUDGET 2026/27 AMENDED VERSION 3: 15 10 2025
2	#	Item	2025 Allocation	2026 Proposal	Notes
3	1	Auditing Fees	£400.00	£400.00
4	2	Bank Changes and charges	£58.00	£51.00
5	3	Charitable Donations	£300.00	£0.00	Removed - no donations have been made in recent years, and individual residents are free to donate as they choose.
6	4	Church Grounds Maintenance	£0.00	£0.00	No spending since 2023, work done by volunteers. PC agreed if assistance is required the Church contacts the PC.
7	5	Clerk's Expenses & Admin	£150.00	£170.00
8	6	Grounds Maintenance (Idverde)	£1,600.00	£1,700.00	Idverde currently under contract, suitably qualified & insured alternatives could be considered.
9	7	Parish Magazine	£130.00	£130.00
10	8	Play area Inspections	£200.00	£200.00	Contracted annually through ROSPA
11	9	Play area maintenance	£1,500.00	£1,500.00	Unchanged - it covers chippings plus the occasional larger expense but nothing towards renewal.
12	10	Public Liability insurance	£700.00	£290.00	Significantly reduced by changing provider. See minutes No.3 dated 9 September 2025 for confirmation of change.
13	11	Publications	£10.00	£0.00	Removed - PC do not purchase any publications.
14	12	Subscriptions CPRE etc	£40.00	£0.00	PC have agreed not to renew CPRE subscription, WALC should be our only membership.
15	13	Village Hall support	£100.00	£0.00	Self-funding as of 2024
16	14	Village Maintenance - church car park.	£500.00	£220.00
17	15	Village Marquee Repair	£200.00	£0.00	Currently proposed to transfer ownership of marquee to VH committee, to be confirmed.
18	16	Village Amenities	£100.00	£100.00	Previously designated for painted signage, now broadened for the purchase of amenities e.g. benches
19	17	WALC Subscription	£150.00	£150.00
20	18	Website maintenance	£100.00	£250.00	As per Tim Wilton's estimate of website and email services costing roughly £2.5k over 10 years.
21	19	Archiving	£20.00	£20.00	Ad Hoc charges as and when required.
22	20	Parish Clerk's remuneration	£2,000.00	£0.00	This was discussed but not implemented in the 24/25 budget - £6k would be a more realistic figure.
23	21	Councillor Training	£0.00	£250.00	Council agreed to add Council Training to the budget
24		Sub-total (operational costs)	£6,670.00	£5,431.00	This is a 19% reduction in operating costs.
25		Contingency Planning	£0.00	£4,000.00	This makes a provision for a number of significant expenses that the council may incur in the coming year or two but has not yet made final decisions on - particularly the playground. This could be removed from future budgets should consultation suggest that residents do not support proposed projects.
26		Total Precept Request	£6,670.00	£9,431.00	This represents a 41.4% increase in our precept, which sounds painful. A Band D property would go from paying £47.13 towards the parish council precept to paying £66.64.
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29		Reserves	Amount	Target	Notes (all allocated reserves can be reallocated as necessary)
30		Total Cash	£23,000.00		Approx as of 15.08.25
31		Unallocated Reserves	£2,460.00	£0.00	This should be no more than half our precept - any money more than this should be allocated to funds, invested, or distributed as grants, as per WALC guidance. Agreed and accepted by Council.
32		Operating Fund	£6,000.00	£6,000.00	To meet our costs through the year - will dwindle to almost £0 and be replenished by the following year's precept.
33		Emergency Fund	£2,500.00	£2,500.00	Reserve of last resort, only to be used if we are in danger of not meeting our obligations.
34		Church Car Park*	£440.00	£2,200.00	Resurfacing cost £1700 in Nov 2023, should need doing about every 10 years, add £220 per year.
35		Playground Maintenance	£1,500.00	£5,000.00	Should we increase this and expand the scope to include maintenance of the orchard and other trees?
36		Playground Replacement*	£0.00	£40,000.00	This remains a very rough estimate - for public consultation.
37		Village Hall Repairs*	£10,000.00	£10,000.00	For emergency repairs where VH committee funds are insufficient.
38		Village Amenities Fund*	£100.00	£2,000.00	Replenished by budget item 16 or from CIL contributions.
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40					* These reserves would not need regular or immediate access. We could consider looking into whether there are savings accounts that would pay interest to at least keep pace with inflation.
41		VERSION 3 AT 15/10/25
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