District's council tax is same for all

The amount of council tax charged by Arun District Council is the same for the whole of the district.

The charge for all the services Arun provides remains at £161.37 a year, or just over £3 a week.

It is the town and parish councils who have the freedom to set different rates for their residents.

Therefore, Bognor Regis Town Council decided, without any influence from Arun District Council, what their budget needed to be for the coming year for the 24,124 residents (not 60-65,000 as stated in Mr Harris’s letter) who live in its four wards and arrived at a figure of £97.92 per year for a band D property.

Littlehampton Town Council went through exactly the same exercise for its 27,239 residents (again, not 58,000) and they have to pay £104.40 pa for their town council services.

This is why the final council tax bills for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton are different.

I live in Aldwick and the services provided by my parish council only cost the residents of Aldwick £12.60 pa for which we are extremely grateful.

It is up to the town and parish councils to explain and justify how they spend their portion of residents’ council tax.

However, I believe Arun District Council has always used its to provide services that are excellent value for money.

Cllr Gillian Brown

Leader of Arun District Council