AN increase of 3.89% in the parish precept was agreed by Callington Town Council on Tuesday, with councillors agreeing it was a way of ‘erring on the side of caution’.

This year the council was pleased to be able to keep the precept increase to significantly less than other local areas due to careful planning and forward thinking.

Next year however, the council will see a cut in its Council Tax Support grant from Cornwall Council by several thousand pounds, which has forced the town council to make the increase.

Cornwall Council has proposed a 1.97% rise in its precept for next year.

The parish precept rise will ensure that the town council will have funds available should they need to take on any devolved services from the county council.

Town clerk Helen Dowdall said: ‘The reason we have made this increase is because Cornwall Council is still working on its devolved projects, but it hasn’t finalised anything yet. We haven’t increased it drastically because we are not sure what services we will be taking on from Cornwall Council, so our decision was to increase it slightly in case we do take on some more services.

‘Cornwall Council want to devolve services but it is not telling us what it will devolve and the exact financial details. Until we’ve ascertained the definitive figures, we are not going to increase the budget unnecessarily.

‘Our Council Tax Support grant has been £32,391 in the past, but Cornwall Council is reducing it for 2016/17 to £26,317 so we are having to increase our budget to make up for that deficit. If Cornwall Council didn’t cut our grants, we wouldn’t need to increase the precept.’

Cllr Jeremy Gist said: ‘Unfortunately we do not have a crystal ball so trying to expect what Cornwall Council will do with devolved services is a mystery. This increase is erring on the side of caution. Undoubtedly there will be services we would like to take on from Cornwall Council to save them for the people of Callington.’

The precept increase was ratified by the full council on Tuesday.

The precept for 2016/17 will be £182.03 per annum for a band D property, which is an increase of £6.77 or 13p a week.

Cornwall Council’s intention is to increase its share of the council tax by 1.97%, the same as last year, but it won’t be set until some time in the New Year.