In evidence to a Commission for Rural Communities inquiry some parish councillors noted with pride that their authority had not raised its precept in 25 years.

They would have had a heart attack if they’d been on our council. This year we agreed a precept rise of more than 30%.

Most higher tier authorities get capped above 6% and police and fire authorities rarely get in to double figures. You would expect our parishioners to have been beating down our doors demanding to know where their money was.

Not a bit of it.

We had one member of the public attend the meeting after we set the budget who politely asked why the rise. He had missed the detailed explanation in the parish magazine which goes to all households. He was perfectly happily once he had our response.

The majority of our £9,384 increase will help build a stretch of pavement along the main road which runs by our village. It’s a busy road but popular with runners and dog walkers and could link several amenity areas.

We’ve been asking county for funding for near enough 20 years but it never gets a priority — so we’ve made it a priority. Our money will trigger the match funding necessary to make it happen.

Starting from such a low base, a 33% increase still only works out at a 40p extra a month per council tax-payer. The sums are large for us, but small beer elsehwhere. However it will make a significant impact on our community.

Section 137 of the Local Government Act allows spending of up to a prescribed amount on anything benefiting the local community. Last year's Local Government and and Public Involvement in Health Act extended the power of 'well-being' to the parish tier. That is, the power to do anything they consider is likely to promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of their areas.

The report from the Commission for Rural Communities on strengthening the role of local councillors recommended: "...parish and town councils to involve their local residents more directly in spending decisions."

At a national level the watchword may be prudence but at the parish level we should look to be generous with our spending powers if that is what it takes to get what our communities want.

If you haven't raised your precept for 25 years - what have you been doing?