Council approves a balanced budget which protects frontline services

Dorset Council’s budget of £348m for 2023-24 has been approved by councillors at the Full Council meeting on 14 February. This continues the council’s commitment to maintain frontline services, without the need for cuts to balance the budget. Dorset Council provides around 450 different services to just under 380,000 residents.
This year’s budget setting exercise took place against a national background of extreme pressures for councils. These pressures include the high level of inflation which affects the cost of delivering council services, and also the continued growth in need for social care services as a result of the ageing population.
Council tax will increase next year by just under 2% and the adult social care precept by 2%. This is less than the maximum 5% increase available to councils, as outlined in the Government’s Spending Review in December 2022. The increase is equivalent to £1.40 extra per week for a Band D property.
Cllr Gary Suttle, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Finance, Commercial and Capital Strategy, said:

“We have developed this balanced budget in a national context of significant financial challenge. Our overriding aim has been to protect the essential frontline council services on which local residents and businesses rely.
“The proposals do include a council tax increase; however, we have kept to it to the minimum possible despite the current high level of inflation. And we continue to provide a range of support for those residents hardest hit by the cost of living.
“Since becoming a unitary council in 2019, we have made efficiency savings of £76 million. This money has been reinvested to protect frontline services, including funding the growing need for adult social care with our ageing population. Our prudent budget management has meant that Dorset has not faced the same cuts to essential services as many other areas.
“However, we continue to lobby Government for fairer funding for Dorset so that we can reduce the burden on local taxpayers in future.”
Contact Information
Communications Team
comms@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
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Parish Council Meeting

First Parish Council meeting of 2023:
10 January @ 7pm Tuesday in the Village Hall
Meeting detail:

STOURPAINE PARISH COUNCIL

I HEREBY GIVE YOU NOTICE that a Meeting of the above Parish Council will be held at the Village Hall at 7pm on the 10th January 2023.
All members of the Council are hereby summoned to attend for the purpose of considering and resolving upon the business to be transacted as set out at the meeting as set out hereunder.

Signed:…………………………………………………………………………………. Mrs J Fairman, Clerk
05/01/2022
Democratic Period:
There will then be an opportunity in the regular meeting for residents to speak on any items on the Agenda or other matters of interest or concern that they wish to bring to the attention of the Parish Council.

The meeting will be preceded by the Allotment AGM at 6.30pm- see separate agenda.

  1. Apologies for Absence:
  2. Declarations of Interests
  3. To consider any matters arising from the November minutes
  4. To approve minutes of the meeting held 08/11/2022.
  5. To consider development control matters.
    -Bushes Rd – New Driveway
    -P/FUL/2022/02944 – Land at Bottom Rd-Erection of 8 dwellings, garages, parking, vehicular access.
  6. Dorset Councillor Report
  7. Reports
    a. Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator
    b. Highways
    c. Flood Prevention and Protection – see report above
    d. Trailway and Rights of Way
    e. Play Areas — Petanque
    f. Village Hall — Warm Space
  8. Finance Report
    – Approve Invoices to be paid
    – Approve Precept Request
  9. To consider any other matters arising from recent correspondence
    a. Planters and Trough
    b. Wessex Internet
    c. Information Board
    d. Dark Skies Initiative

Date of next meeting – 14th February 2023

Stourpaine Benefice Contacts

CONTACTS in the BENEFICE in STOURPAINE

Our Administrator is Gill Baverstock (contact for Weddings, Baptisms, funerals and churchyard memorials)
Tel: 01725 516 311 or email gill.baverstock@hotmail.co.uk 

 For Pews News please contact Judy Jakes
Tel: 07957 607111 or email psdbenefice@gmail.com

 Our Priest in Charge is now Rev David Miell
Tel: 07708 601 462 or email dkmiell@david-williams
and our Associate Priest is Rev Henriët Miell
Tel: 07484 675 097 or email henrietmiell@gmail.com

Lay Pastoral Assistants:
Mrs Sue Atkinson Rose House, South Holme, Stourpaine.   T: 07796 474 197

Church Wardens:
Mr Chris Brown       T: 01258 451 129
Mrs Sue Atkinson.  T: 07796 474 197

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Sylv’s Specs Open Day – Mon 17 October 2022

Sylv Fife is having an Open Day in her expanded shop at
Shaston House, Shaston Road,
Stourpaine,
Dorset DT11 8TA
next to the White Horse pub car park.

You are invited in to view her special offers on spectacles that day.

Also if you have the opportunity to pop in between 3 to 5 p.m., Sylv will be offering refreshments.

All Sylv needs is a heads up to get the catering right that you are coming and if you will be with any others. Email sylvsspecs@gmail.com or call 07912 425579 for an regular appointment or attendance at the Open Day.

www.sylvsspecs.com

#SaveSafely this winter

With living costs rising all the time, everyone is looking for ways to save some money, so Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service is highlighting some areas where a saving could be a false economy – and a fire risk.

The Service is asking people to #SaveSafely, and there is a wealth of information about staying safe at home and on the roads at www.dwfire.org.uk/save-safely. This includes energy saving tips, cooking safely advice, how to stay warm safely, staying safe when cutting costs, cutting the costs of driving, and signposting to financial help.

Some top tips include:

  • Pulling something like electric heaters or electric blankets out of the loft, that haven’t been used for years, can be risky. Watch for signs of dangerous or loose wiring, such as scorch marks, hot plugs and sockets, fuses that often blow, or circuit breakers that trip for no obvious reasons.
  • If you’re drying clothes indoors rather than use a tumble dryer, keep them well away from the heat source so they can’t catch fire.
  • Air fryers and microwave ovens are great at saving energy when cooking, but please read the manufacturer’s instructions and keep them clean between uses.
  • Getting chimneys swept when you have a woodburner or open fire is essential to reduce the risk of chimney fires. Also be careful of what you burn; green (unseasoned) wood may seem cheap, but it doesn’t create much heat and it creates a residue that can easily catch alight within the chimney.
  • Get your boiler serviced – a well maintained boiler is more efficient and reduces the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning.
  • Only use the correct charger for mobile devices. Although it can be cheaper to buy imported and unofficial chargers, fake ones are often made with poor quality components that fail to meet UK safety regulations. This means they can cause injury, electric shocks and even fires.
  • Make sure you follow the manufacturer’s instructions when using wheat bags – don’t heat them for too long, or at too high a temperature.

The Fire and Rescue Service offers free Safe & Well advice, which can include a home visit and the provision of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. To request this for yourself, a family member or a vulnerable person, please call 0800 038 2323 or visit www.dwfire.org.uk/safe-and-well-visits

Discount Code for Stourpaine Residents – Great Dorset Steam Fair

25 – 29 August 2022

The Great Dorset Steam Fair have given the Parish Council a 50% discount code that the first 260 applicants who apply for tickets online can use, the following rules apply.

Applicant must be a Stourpaine Resident
Maximum of 2 tickets per household

The discount code is: STOUR2022 and should be used at the discount code area at the checkout section on the site. Once the allotted number of tickets have been sold the code will become invalid and inaccessible as the allocation cap would have been reached. 

A link to the GDSF site  https://gdsf.ticketsrv.co.uk/content/84

I hope that you enjoy the show.

Regards
Jan Fairman
Stourpaine Parish Clerk

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#BringAPicnicNotABBQ

If British Summer Time and warmer days means you will be visiting one of Dorset & Wiltshire’s local heathlands or outdoors spaces to enjoy the wildlife and wilderness, please take a picnic.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) are encouraging residents and visitors to take a picnic and not BBQ. Warmer and breezy weather increases the risk of accidental or deliberate fires in our open spaces. A wildfire can move at speeds faster than an Olympic sprinter, so we are asking people who are out and about to follow some simple steps:

  • If you are enjoying our open spaces when a fire occurs, get to a safe place and call 999 with as much information as possible.
  • Consider downloading and using What3Words to identify your exact location.
  • You can also help by reporting any antisocial behaviour on the heath to the Police on 101. 

During 2021, DWFRS dealt with 494 fires in the open. In 2022, we have already seen large wildfires in Dorset & Wiltshire and firefighters across the UK have dealt with more wildfires between January and May than in the whole of 2021 (243 compared to 237 in 2021).

Area Manager Marc House, Head of Prevention at DWFRS said: “As we move into the summer, with longer daylight hours and warmer weather, understandably more people want to get out and use Dorset & Wiltshire’s natural environments. There is a trend that the number of deliberately set fires and fires caused by BBQs and bonfires in these open spaces, increases.

He added: “I cannot stress enough how important it is to take extra care when enjoying our beautiful open and forestry areas. If you are a smoker, please extinguish them fully before disposing of them responsibly – never ever just throw them away lit, similar to throwing them out from car windows – the result could be 50 or 100 firefighters tackling the subsequent blaze.”

Anyone caught starting a fire on a heath will be prosecuted whether it is a case of deliberate arson or neglect, for example an unauthorised camp fire or a disposable BBQ that gets out of control.  Wildfires cost lives not only to endangered plants and animals but also put people and houses in danger. 

We need your help to protect our countryside. Please #BringAPicnicNotABBQ

Safety first for summer cooking