Council Meeting
9 July 2026
BUDGET MONITOR 202 6/27 Q1

1. All Committees
The Council’s budget for 2026/27 is £275,128.50 of which £180,000 is funded by the
Precept. The remainder will be taken from reserves. At the end of Q1 the Council had spent
£40,500.57 (14.7%) of its budget for 2026//27.

2. Burial Grounds
Cemetery fees for Q1 totalling £3,950 have exceeded the expectation of £2,500 for the
quarter. The only major expenditure has been for the groundmen contractors which at
£2,478.27 is well within the budget. Such has been the fee surplus that at the end of the
quarter the committee has £10,207.97 available, which is £1,092.97 more than it had at the
beginning of the financial year.

3. EBNP (Review)
The committee had a much reduced budget for 2026/27 of £10,000 due to £16,500 for
traffic consultants being transferred to the SPF Committee. The only expenditure in Q1 has
been £78.42 relating to costs incurred upon community engagement in respect of the
Conservation Area Extension public open day.

4. Playing Fields
A relatively quiet quarter comprising regular payments with only one larger payment of
£1,380 for grounds maintenance. Total expenditure amounted to £2,564.08, 5.4% of the
budget of £47,670.

5. RFF (General)
The only expenditure in Q1 was the Litter Picker’s salary, and associated equipment
totalling £1,994.66, (7.65% of the budget). The larger items of expenditure are expected to
occur later in the financial year.

6. RFF (Car Park and toilets)
Toilet cleaning, £1,950, and utility charges comprising electricity and water/sewerage,
£799.16, totalling £2,749.16 (12.62%) are the regular payments which have been incurred
in Q1. Regular maintenance of the car park is ongoing and the contractor will submit an
invoice in due course. Works of refurbishment to the toilets are scheduled for later in the
financial year.

7. SPF (General)
Regular payments have comprised the bulk of the committee’s expenditure in this quarter.
Primarily these comprise Insurances (£530.43), Subscriptions (£1027.10), Internal audit fee
(£437.50), Salaries, NI and tax (£12,909.40), Parish Office ((£1871.67), Broadband, phone,
email and website support (798.59) and media consultancy (£1,425).

This quarter has seen the greatest call on the Events budget with the Summer Fair and the
In Our View Constable 250 celebration which is continuing. The budget of £4,000 has just
about been exhausted. However, for the first time, stall holders were charged a £15 fee and
56 stall holders provided income of £840. In addition, two satisfied traders have made

donations of £220 making a total income from the Summer Fair of £1,060. At the moment
this money is in reserves and it is RECOMMENDED that the Council approves the transfer
of the income to the SPF events budget thereby offsetting the expenditure and leaving
funds for events later in the year.

Contingencies have only been called upon for two items so far. The first, legal fees of
£2,500 in respect of the Congregational Church and the second, bank charges of £4.99 per
month, recently introduced by Santander. A balance of £2,485 remains for the rest of the
financial year.

The VAT refund for 2025/26 was £73.059.61 which was 3-4 times larger than the usual
refund. This was due to the large payments made to contractors on the Council’s CIL
projects for the Tennis and Cricket clubs in the previous financial year.

Total expenditure in Q1 was £24,116.63 (20.79%) which suggests that expenditure will be
within budget by the end of the financial year.

8. SPF (Grants)
Just one grant awarded this quarter, to EB Bowls Club for the purchase of a new mower to
replace an old and worn out model. The grant of £5983.59 leaves a pot of £9016.41 for new
applications.

9. Young People
The first payment under a revised contract to the Youth Club contractor, £4,107 (14.16% of
budget) was the only expenditure in this quarter.

10. Other income and expenditure

In April income, apart from the half year precept (£90,000) and the VAT refund
(£73,894.61), there was a CIL receipt of £23,989.16. and in June a payment from Babergh
DC of £5,314.65 being half the cost of HCUK’s appraisal for the Conservation Area
Extension.

Reserves and CIL payments of £2,821.62 were expended. The reserves included a
donation of £750 for the Legend on a bench and the CIL expenditure was final payments on
the sports club CIL projects.

Graham White
Parish Clerk
3 July 2025