Newark Town Council update public on responsibilities, challenges, and finances during annual general meeting at Newark Town Hall
A council has said “sound financial management” has put them in good stead for the future.
During Newark Town Council’s annual general meeting last week, there was an opportunity for councillors to update the public on its responsibilities, how council taxes are spent, the current state of its finances, and plans for the future.
The meeting at Newark Town Hall was chaired by Mayor of Newark Barbara Corrigan, who welcomed guests before inviting others to speak.
Newark Town Council is made up of 18 councillors, elected every four years, representing seven different wards — Beacon, Bridge, Castle, Devon, Magnus, Sleaford, and South.
Town councillors make decisions about how the council is governed, but are not paid — it is a voluntary role without expenses, carried out by people living in the communities they represent.
The town clerk and deputy clerk carry out administrative and organisational roles, and are responsible for advising councillors on decision making.
They are supported by roughly 40 paid members of staff and officers who work behind the scenes to maintain the council’s estate and services on a day to day basis.
Roughly 5% of a resident’s total council tax goes towards the town council. A 5% increase to its share of tax was approved earlier this year.
The increase will see the council take in an additional £70,849,00 per year to bolster its resources, which are to be spent on services directly related to the town council’s responsibilities.
Newark Town Council is responsible for; Newark Town Hall, the Town Hall Art Gallery and Museum, Newark Cemetery, the Mayoralty of Newark, and Newark Royal Market.
It also provides public toilets, allotments, some street furniture, bins, and floral displays, organises public events, Christmas lights, as well as a number of sports facilities, green spaces and play parks, including Sherwood Avenue and Riverside Park.
In her capacity as chairman of the finance and general purposes committee, Barbara Corrigan also gave a presentation, during which she said that the council were in a “must better position” than a year ago.
One of the biggest challenges facing the town council is that a significant pot of grant funding is expected to come to an end by 2027/28, meaning they will be left with a significant financial deficit.
In 2015 Newark and Sherwood District Council devolved responsibility of a number of assets to Newark Town Council, which in turn increased overheads.
A £3.6m support grant was then set up to combat the increase in expenditure, and was due to be spread over a number of years based on anticipated population growth in the town — however, the number of new tax payers needed to fund services without the help of the support grant has not risen at the level that was expected.
As a result, 12 months ago, the council forecast that by the time the support grant runs out in the 27/28 financial year, it will need to find an additional £600,000 per year to continue to deliver its services.
However, due to what Ms Corrigan described as “sound financial management”, the council is now in a much improved position, cutting the deficit forecast to just £75,000.
This was put down to a number of decisions taken over the past year to cut costs and find alternative revenue streams.
One of the biggest steps forwards for the council, was to begin using the Town Hall as a hospitality, wedding, and events venue — a decision which has so far proven to be extremely financially beneficial, bringing in £58,610 more than was spent.
The council hopes to continue expanding its hospitality offer, which in turn will increase revenue further without the need to drastically raise council tax.
Additional income also means ongoing maintenance of council assets — including the Town Hall, which will celebrate it’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
A new deputy town clerk and a museum curator have also been hired to help to address a number of administrative issues and free up resources and time to be used more efficiently.
More number of senior members of council staff have also retired in the past year, meaning that large salary have also be reduced.
The combination of all these factors means that the town council have achieved a year end underspend of £256,935, compared to its budget.
This surplus will be placed into reserves to help bridge the funding gap created when the support grant comes to an end. This gap is expected to close once the new housing development at Middlebeck is completed.
By addressing the most major financial pressures, this has allowed the council more freedom to begin planning ahead for larger projects.
This includes being in the early stages of investigating a new cemetery site in Newark, based on feedback from a public consultation earlier this year.
The council completed a major upgrade of Sherwood Avenue Park this year, and also hosted a large number of public event in the Market Place — most recently, the success of Newark’s VE Day 80th anniversary celebrations — which will continue over the coming financial year.
What would you like to see the town council prioritise over the coming year?
