Wheatley Hill Parish Council held a gathering in the Cemetery on Sunday 13 March 2022.

The Parish Council is deeply saddened by the events taking place in Ukraine and wanted to hold a small service to show our respect and support for those currently fearing for their lives.

County Councillors Jake Miller, Lucy Hovvels and Chris Varty spoke at the gathering and the Ukrainian national anthem was played by Nicola Tempest Hall.

If anyone would like to lay flowers at the Ukranian flag display they are more than welcome to do so.

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Monday 13 June 2022 at 6pm in Wheatley House.

All members of the public are invited to attend and there is the opportunity for you to have your say. Please contact us if you wish to come along. You can access the agendas and minutes of meetings as soon as they are publicly available.

Wheatley Hill Parish Council approved its budget for 2022-2023 in the sum of £132,391 at a special meeting of the Parish Council held on 10 January 2022.

The introduction by Central Government of a Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme grant which replaced the Council Tax Benefit Scheme significantly changed the calculation of the tax-base upon which Council Tax is calculated. Town and parish councils are not financially independent and are reliant upon Central Government grant support to compensate for the loss of tax-base. The grant support is paid to Durham County Council who then redistribute the grant to parishes but the County Council is under no obligation to do this. Durham County Council as our billing authority has agreed to redistribute the relevant part of the Central Government grant for 2022-2023.

The Parish Council requires a budget of £132,391 for the 2022/2023 financial year. To off-set the budget the Parish Council will use £7,048 of reserves and receive a Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme grant of £8,432. After deducting the £7,048 reserves and the £8,432 grant from the Council’s budget this will produce a precept requirement of £116,911. The total amount requested from Durham County Council for 2022/2023 is £125,343.

This is an increase of 4.8% to the precept which would provide the Parish Council with an additional £1,117 to spend. This equates to a standstill charge for a Band D and Band A properties in Wheatley Hill which is £150.29 and £100.20 respectively.