Anger after Fernwood Parish Council splashed the cash on a village coat of arms

A row has erupted over a parish council's decision to spend £14,500 on producing a coat of arms for the village.

On the Fernwood village Facebook page, many of the 71 people to comment express their outrage at the expenditure and say the money should have been better spent.

Marianne Mellor wrote: "A coat of arms for Fernwood. Why? What's the benefit to either the residents or the community as a whole? How will it improve our way of life and people's perception of Fernwood itself?

"It seems an excessive waste of money and highly pretentious to me.

"And I guess it won't stop at just £15k. The coat of arms will no doubt need adding to letterheads, rubbish bins, signage, etc, etc, etc, as what's the pint in having it if you don't show it off?

"I expect we'll be needing a Fernwood flag next.

"£15k could have been put to far better use.

"I want to see this coat of arms."

Lisa Bagley: "In all seriousness, better things that money could have been spent on."

Lrrn Dixon said: "That's an absolute disgrace!! Who are those in charge of the financial allocation accountable to?

"Fernwood Parish Council That money could have been spent on far more advantageous projects that actually benefit those living within Fernwood."

Simon Bagley wrote: "Who in the parish council thought that spending nearly 15k on a coat of arms with no regard for the community they serve.

"This is purely a vanity project and has not been explained in your post. Disgraceful."

Rebecca Marie asked: "Where is this coat of arms?"

Doyle Armstrong replied: "Rebecca Marie I assume we’re all receiving one for above the mantle piece."

Philippa Ward Hulett wrote: "I’ve not seen it but it probably has a couple of weird looking animals each side, a bit of Latin at the bottom and a tree at the top like every other coat of arms. I don’t see the point myself."

Andrew Sears wrote: "Surely the kids of Fernwood school could have or can have competition to do the best coat of arms and then maybe Primeprint could have worked their magic to create a sign for it and so on. Keeping it local."

Lucy Taylor queried: "Correct me if I am wrong in my understanding regarding CIL but isn't a community infrastructure levy (CIL) paid on new developments by the builders to help towards supporting/building new infrastructure needed to offset the impact of the new developments?

"Maybe it is a case of a local parish is awarded a share of the CIL from the local authorities to spend as they see fit? If its a case of the latter then surely it is only fitting the parishioners have some say on how that money is spent according to benefit the parish as a whole.

While Guy Mellor said: "Can anyone please explain, using small simple words, why Fernwood needs a coat of arms and secondly what benefit such a thing will bring to our village? I get having a logo (which could be designed and agreed by residents) but a coat of arms? I’m struggling to see how this can be a sensible use of taxes."

Sharron Carle said: "Perhaps we wouldn’t have been allowed to enter inter village jousting tournaments without one?"

The council used some of the more than £1m it has banked from contributions from developers, a community infrastructure levy, or CIL, to what was Nottinghamshire's newest village, rather than council tax money.

In replying to the posts, parish clerk Marion Fox Goddard wrote: "Fernwood Parish Council has spent some of the CIL (community infrastructure levy) on this, the precept has not been used.

"This is the cost paid to the Windsor Herald for the arms (they cannot be designed by anyone else).

"The council’s finances are on the website and transactions are listed in agenda packs and spend such as this discussed openly in public meetings.

"There are still significant amounts of CIL which we hope to spend on open spaces and other projects in the parish.

"This information has been cut from a document issued today following a FOI request - the full document is available on the Council website as are our accounts.

"At each parish council meeting proposed spending is listed in the agenda pack.

"If you have any concerns, please feel free to email me or come to the next parish council meeting on November 21 at 7pm at the village hall."

Neill Mison, the area's district councillor, who lives in the village, told the Advertiser: "I share the disappointment of residents that the parish council chose so much money on a coat of arms when there are so much better things they could have spent it on such as infrastructure; things like correcting some of the issues that the estate still has from when it was built or solving the parking problems."

Fernwood Parish Council has been approached for comment.