HOUSEHOLDERS in Callington are likely to see a significant increase in the town Council precept this year of between 20% and 30% but this is necessary to keep services maintained and improved, says portreeve Jeremy Gist.

The council leader said this week the authority was bucking the current trend of slashing services and working hard to make Callington and Kelly Bray a safe, happy and prosperous place.

'It has become trendy for public services to be cut, but in Callington we do not want to be trendy — we want residents to have decent services and decent value for money,' he said.

'I believe that as long as people are seeing good services and value for money with no waste they will be prepared to pay an extra 70p or 80p a week (on a Band D property) to live in a town where things are still up to a decent spec.'

Over the past year Callington has taken on services from Cornwall Council such as grass cutting of the verges, weed spraying and the public toilets.

It hopes to take on the maintenance of St Mary's Square this year so more frequent attention can be paid to this very public space in the town centre.

With Cornwall Council facing dramatic budget pressures and many services not being statutory or having to be provided by the council, there were fears that Callington would lose out on many service provisions.

There was real concern that public conveniences would be closed in the town as many have done across the county.

'We have set the precept accordingly so we can keep the services maintained and improved rather than cutting them to ribbons,' said Mr Gist. 'The likelihood is that some areas will see parks and footpaths closed when Cornwall Council confirms its budget this year.

'Fortunately, we took over the running of our cemeteries and recreation fields years ago and in years to come we hope to have more services provided by the town rather than Cornwall Council. We want to keep it local and I believe that is what the public wants too.'

The town council precept forms a small part of the council tax bill which also includes Cornwall Council and police budgets. This year a rise in the precept set by Cornwall Council is capped by the Government at 2%.

Callington and Cornwall councillor Andrew Long said 'all the fat' had been cut from the Cornwall Council budget but the Government wanted more.

'We now have to cut the very muscle that keeps the whole services going,' he said. 'We are talking about potentially a 56% cut in parks and open spaces. Beaches will be affected, which will in turn affect our tourist industry and local businesses. It is a very sad situation.'