Stillingfleet Parish Council gets its funding by receiving a small proportion of the local council tax which residents pay to Selby District Council. This is referred to as the ‘Parish Precept’.
HOW IS THE PRECEPT CALCULATED?
The Parish Council has to forecast what funding it will need for the forthcoming year and requests this funding from Selby District Council in the form of a precept tax that forms part of the local Council Tax. The amount of the Council Tax is calculated by using a somewhat complicated formula based on the number of band D equivalent properties in each parish.
The precept received by Stillingfleet for the year 2015/2016 was £3,842.00.
In addition the Parish Council received £2,362.87 from Natural England to cover work done under the Stewardship Scheme. In addition, small sums were received for wayleaves. A grant of £1,629.40 to cover development, training and equipment in respect of a parish website.
HOW IS THE PRECEPT SPENT?
The main items of expenditure are maintaining the village green (cutting, grazing and weed wiping), providing street lighting (electricity and repairs/bulbs etc), contributing to the care of the churchyard and cemetery, the clerks salary, audit fees and other small miscellaneous payments.
We are required to publish a list of expenditure of over £100, which can be read here.
THE BYELAW FIELD CHARITY.
The Parish Council is the sole trustee of this charity, which is registered with the charity commissioners under No.252964
The sole asset of the charity is a acre field abutting the southern bank of Stillingfleet beck a short distance to the east of the green (towards Escrick). It was established by an enclosure award made in 1756 under an Enclosure Act of 1755. It is rented out for grazing each year and the rent is received by the Parish Council although it can only be used for charitable purposes for the benefit of the citizens of Stillingfleet.
The charity framework refers to ‘any charitable purpose’ but the classification then details the charity making grants to organisations for ‘general charitable purposes’, but specifying the elderly and other charities or voluntary bodies.
The Parish Council decides how to spend this money, but cannot use it to reduce the general rates of Stillingfleet citizens.