Kingsley Parish Council Budget and Precept 2024-2025

Kingsley Parish Council is required to set an annual budget to deliver services, and its income is financed through a combination of the parish precept, cemetery fees, grants and other income such as Community Infrastructure Levy.

Over the past few years the Council has made efforts to establish a realistic budget. Kingsley Parish Council is now better equipped to respond to issues as they arise and unforeseen circumstances (such as vandalism) without this impacting the delivery of other services. These increments over recent years would have been less significant if there had been more reasonable annual increments applied historically. However, between 2009-2020 the precept increased by an average annual sum of £0.83 per annum. While this produced an overall saving for taxpayers for over a decade, it effectively resulted in real-term budget cuts throughout most of the Council’s recent existence as the precept fell far short of inflation.

Across a similar period the second-tier authority, Cheshire West and Chester Council, has experienced funding reductions of almost £400 million since 2010.

In reaction to these circumstances, Kingsley Parish Council has tried to play a more proactive role and reduce the potential risk of watching a decline of services in the Parish by undertaking additional public realm maintenance to areas such as key public rights of way in the village.

This year’s precept brings us almost to the level necessary to deliver all of our services, make additional investment in the Parish and the community, and continue making a meaningful difference to the people of Kingsley. 

It is important to note that the Council’s costs have increased significantly in recent years, and it is becoming more difficult to maintain lower precept requests, without compromising on service delivery. For example, the costs to maintain the cemetery have more than doubled in the last five years.

The new precept delivers a Band D rate of £82.38, which is a year-on-year increase of £11.30 (15.9%), and equivalent to an additional £0.94 per month. This remains lower than the national average and the precept charged by Frodsham Town Council (£93.71).

To view the full budget and precept report, please click here.

A full analysis of national precepts charged by local authorities for FY2324 (produced by the National Association of Local Councils) can be found here.

Questions about the budget and precept can be raised with the Responsible Financial Officer, Luke Trevaskis, by emailing