Fees go up as Teignbridge council grapples with inflation

Being buried will be more expensive

It will cost more to be buried, sail a model boat or keep a dangerous animal in Teignbridge as the local council puts up dozens of its fees.

The council says it needs to bump up some of its charges as a way of coping with financial pressures and high inflation. It last put up its fees in February, and normally only puts them up once a year.

But members of the council’s executive committee will hear at their next meeting on Tuesday, 12 September that an extra round of mid-year increases is necessary.

Many of the council’s hundreds of fees for its services will stay the same, but there will be increases in areas such as parking charges.

The cost of being buried in Teignbridge will rise from £882 to £961, while the price of sailing a model boat on Newton Abbot’s Decoy Lake – or fishing in it – will rise by a pound to £10.88 a day.

A licence to keep a dangerous animal goes up from £125 to £135 and there will also be increases in the costs of collecting commercial waste and supplying extra bins.

Parking charges will increase to different fees in different places across the district, but an all-day ticket for a spot in the centre of Newton Abbot will rise from £5.70 to £6.20. Half an hour’s parking will go up from 90p to £1.

Chief finance officer Martin Flitcroft will tell the meeting that the mid-year increase in fees and charges will provide the council with £145,470 in extra income this financial year, and an ongoing increase of £346,050 a year.

The figure represents an increase in income of just over three per cent a year.

A report to the meeting outlines some of the financial pressures on the council.

It says that a likely pay rise for council employees is going to be significantly higher than anticipated, and income from recycling sales has reduced as prices have dropped.

Inflation has been higher than anticipated and there are more costs coming from other areas including leasing a new refuse vehicle fleet.

However, many fees including beach huts, boat storage, taxi licensing and a game of golf on the Shaldon pitch and putt course are remaining the same.