Town Council Freezes Council Tax for 4th Year

The Town Council voted to freeze the parish precept (the part of Council Tax that funds the Town Council) for the fourth consecutive year at it's meeting on Tuesday.

The annual rate payable by a Band D property in the Town will remain £83.84, which has been the rate since 2011/12.

The Town Council has also frozen fees for pitches on the market for the third consecutive year and is freezing the hire rates for Epping Hall. Cemetery fees are increasing to bring fees in line with other local cemeteries in Waltham Abbey and Chigwell.

Town Mayor Barbara Scruton said "The Council felt that increasing local taxation in the present climate was not the right thing to do. We have frozen fees for the market to support our traders and frozen fees for Epping Hall to encourage local groups to provide activities in the Town. The decision to raise Cemetery fees was difficult but if we are to keep Council Tax stable we can't afford to subsidise the Cemetery to the extent we have been previously."

"We still have an ambitious programme for the coming year, which will see us start work on a neighbourhood plan for Epping, give one of our play areas a big overhaul and we will be organising more events for the community than ever before"