Canvey Island Town Council

What is a Town Council?

• It is a separate tier of local government and does not replace the Borough or County Council Councillors.
• Elections are held to appoint town councillors who meet and decide on how to undertake the town council’s functions.
• It has powers to provide or maintain community facilities. These include allotments, cemeteries and crematoria, bus shelters, litter bins, community centres, war memorials and public open spaces.
• It is able to comment and lobby on matters of interest to local people.
• It decides its own budget and sets its own Council Tax which is added and collected over and above the existing Council Tax.
• Depending on its size, it usually employs administrative staff and has a permanent office from which to operate its affairs.
• It has access to financial resources that are not available to the Borough Council that can be used to provide facilities in its area.

What will it cost?

At this stage it is only possible to give an indicative figure of the likely annual cost of a town council for Canvey Island. To give some idea, so that you can make an informed decision when completing the questionnaire, the cost for similar sized town councils in other parts of the country is approximately £15.00 to £25.00 per year for Band D properties, however it could be higher. This cost would only apply to properties on Canvey Island and will be added to the Council Tax you already pay.

How many town councillors will there be?

We have also made some comparisons with other town councils already set up elsewhere to help decide the size of the town council for Canvey Island. We are suggesting that 11 town councillors in addition to the existing borough councillors would be suitable for Canvey Island: two each in the Central, East, North, South and Winter Gardens Wards and one in Canvey Island West.