Councillors put on spot at pensioners forum (From Chard & Ilminster News)

Councillors put on spot at pensioners forum

8:18pm Thursday 14th February 2008 in Chard By Joanna Glover

AROUND 150 pensioners gathered at Chard's Guildhall on Wednesday to quiz two top councillors on the prickly issues of Council Tax.

Members at the Chard, Ilminster and Crewkerne Pensioner's Forum stood at the entrance with banners reading basic pension falling, council tax appalling', why pay more for less' and wastelets recycle our council'.

Somerset County Council leader Jill Shortland and South Somerset District Council's portfolio holder for finance, revenues and support services, Paul Robathan, were put on the spot after their presentations by questions from the audience.

The event allowed members and visitors to raise their concerns about Council Tax and gave the two councillors a chance to outline their stance and plans.

Cllr Shortland said at the event: "My personal and party belief is that this is a completely unfair tax. It taxes people irrespective of their wealth and income."

Cllr Shortland said one contributing factor to the council tax rises was the increase in the costs of adult social care as well as the cost of recycling - at which Somerset was ahead of other local authorities.

But she insisted that she had worked with the council to drive down costs as far as possible and stressed this had to be done without compromising the standard of services delivered across the county.

She also assured members the council was listening to the views of the public and using it to improve their services.

She said: "The overriding message we've had from our consultation events is that people want to keep Council Tax increases to a minimum but not at the cost of the quality of services."

* For more on the event pick up next week's News - out on Wednesday!

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