Council Tax Band database

theGrinch

that information booklet which WE pay for is nothing more than council propanganda. time for some root and branch reform of a) local government b) and more accountability not just in elections but hiring and firing of key staff.

I thing its time for a change at central government too.

bunking_off

nearlyrich

Sounds like you were lucky. What happens at the appeal is they have to produce properties of comparable size, and prove that they were sold at a value in the relevant band back in 1991. The Valuation Office produced 3 properties at my appeal, one of which was withdrawn when I pointed out how different it was to mine. Of the remaining two;

a) one was in a part of town that was and is the most desired location and carries a price premium (but given the tribunal's 50 miles away, they'd hardly know that!), and
b) the other was one that had patently been bought by an absolute mug back in 1991. I know that, because I'd been around it when I was buying my place in 2002 - it was ok but not for me. In the 11 intervening years (recalling 1991 was near a trough in house prices), it had increased in value only by 40%....in other words it had exchanged hands at a well-inflated price back then. The only conclusion I can draw on that is that if you accept an incorrect banding, you don't just condemn yourself, but also anyone else who appeals nearby in the future as you'll be considered a precedent.

Unfortunately, regardless of the above and the fact that 100+ similar properties on my estate have a lower banding, the tribunal still found against - hence my conclusion that it was a waste of time filling out the paperwork. Incidentally, there's no right of appeal. Galling though, given it means I pay £350/yr more council tax than my immediate neighbours as a result.

seaniboy

Im glad you all got houses for them rates! My local authority(Scotlands 4th largest city)charges me £1476PA for two bedroomed flat in an area populated by mainly students (who luckily pay nil), my council tax is more than 50% of my rent!!
Good old Scotish local councils!
My dad has has a two bedroomed house in a working middle class area worth about £70,000 and pays approx £1800PA

Scotland got a raw deal with the council tax to start with and we are paying more than Wales/England.....think yourselfves lucky & count your blessings!

bridiej

Roman_Camel wrote:

Has anybody recently visited Folkestone? If so your comments would be most welcome.

I live in Hythe and try and avoid Folkestone wherever possible.

From what I've seen of Shepway DC they've got their heads up their backsides. It's their own fault they missed out bigtime to Ashford when the tunnel went in. They've fannied about for years and years about a shopping centre in the middle of town - the thing could have been built 8 years ago and helped revitalise the high street area.

The town is a mess, and yet the council insisted on re-doing the pavements - why?

The harbour area hopefully will be revamped sometime soon, it's a disgrace at the moment.

It's such a shame because Folkestone could actually be a lovely seaside town, but they just dont invest properly in it.

I would dearly love to know how much our bin men are paid as that's the only thing we see for our money too!!!!

And even then we had chaos over the Christmas period, we werent advised when bins would be emptied so the whole street had their wheelie bins on the pavement for a week and a half, and we've had missed collections on a regular basis - strangely enough whenever you ring the council you're told "the lorry has broken down".

The amount of tax we and every other household in Shepway is paying they could afford to collect the rubbish in Ferarris!!

Sorry, rant over..... :mad:

fairenoughclough

dougk wrote:

The biggest cause of the council tax increases is the Police...look at the % increases they have had over the past 5 or 6 years and what have we got for it?

I think its the police forces that need a BIG shake up in the way they operate.

The biggest cause of the council tax increases is the government.

The money the councils spend has three main sources council taxes collected, support grant from Whitehall and council reserves.

They decide how much grant to give the councils, they decide how much teachers and police get paid but leave it to the councils to fund the increase.

As an example if my children went to School in a neighboring authority 5 miles away, their funding from Whitehall would be double what it is where we live.

It may be naive of me, but I think the quality of police and education services should not depend on your postcode.

shrek101

Roman_Camel as I said previously the largest part of council tax is paid for education, ie 60%. It is wrong to assume that most of the CT is paid just for ones' bins to be emptied every week. In my own area there are over 160 services of which council tax is paid for, bins is just a small percentage of that.

nearlyrich

seaniboy wrote:

Scotland got a raw deal with the council tax to start with and we are paying more than Wales/England.....think yourselfves lucky & count your blessings!

England and Wales got a raw deal on student loans/ tuition fees and you do have another layer of government to support up there.

We pay £1350 for a band D (4 Bed detached) but we don't get any extra services than our Band A neighbours accross the road (2 bed terraced) who pay significantly less, or less than the new build down the road which is in Band F and is no bigger than ours.

I don't think the Council tax is a particularly fair tax in any part of the UK but fortunately our council have managed to keep the increase manageable this year after several years of free spending by the Labour controlled council we had upto May last year.

bunking_off

According to the demand that landed on my doorstep this morning, next year's council tax will be £1887, up approx 4% overall. The police feel they need 7% more....

bridiej

shrek101 wrote:

Roman_Camel as I said previously the largest part of council tax is paid for education, ie 60%. It is wrong to assume that most of the CT is paid just for ones' bins to be emptied every week. In my own area there are over 160 services of which council tax is paid for, bins is just a small percentage of that.

I realise that the money goes for other services but when the only service you get yourself is your bins emptied it's a bit much really!


sorry Shrek - I think I clicked on the "Edit" button instead of "Quote" so it added my comments to your post!!! Changed in back now......

Milky_Mocha

Roman_Camel wrote:

I too unfortunately come under SDC and my Council Tax for a 3 bed end of terrace on a 'newish' estate in Hawkinge (just on outskirts of Folkestone) is £111-00 per month (Band 'C') .thats an increase of £42.95 on last year.

So does anyone know how much a dustman earns on SDC? Because if I have to pay £111-00 per month to have my bins emptied once a week,then they must be earning in the Super Tax bracket! The rest of the nonsense on the bottom of the Council Tax statement is just rubbish.Kent Police Authority,apparently if you need to contact them after 'office hours' you may end up being put through to Hastings! (only 40 miles or so away) ,I must admit luckily I have had no reason to contact them but if is the case.....well.

And crime doesn't pay?

Has anybody recently visited Folkestone? If so your comments would be most welcome.

Parts of it (especially the poor-end) look like lower Beirut!

The Channel Tunnel was supposed to bring 'big' things for this town but instead all our neighbouring towns (Canterbury&Ashford) have bloomed and Folkestone with all its Beaurocratic Bungling has been left behind.

The Town Centre is one giant car park with years of a promised shopping mall now a distant dream.

Go Folkestone Go HAHAHAHA.

Wow, I too live in Hawkinge on the new bit. We must be neighbours. I am not surprised a lot of complaints are about this council. Its ridiculous. We have moaned about it for ages but just did not know what to do. Maybe we should form some kind of alliance against this. It's so wrong. What we pay in council tax on this property is more than what is paid on our 4 bedroom house in London! Anyone who knows Folkestone would agree with me that this is an injustice. I have often wondered what exactly all this money is going towards. The city in general has a lot of potential but has been stagnant for so long.

Sigh