CONTROVERSIAL plans to introduce three brand new parishes and make a series of changes to existing areas are now a step closer after passing through the Cabinet.

Councillors met on Wednesday evening to consider the plans in front of a larger audience than would routinely be expected for a cabinet meeting.

While the majority had come to hear about parishing, it was the council’s financial situation that proved most illuminating - it is now an ever-present factor in all decisions made in the chamber.

Coun Russell Holland (Con), the cabinet member with responsibility for finance, outlined the scale of the challenge we face.

In the next three years, the council must find in the region of £48m to plug a funding gap caused by the rising cost of providing statutory services for vulnerable people at a time when funding from central government is falling to almost nothing.

Coun Holland pulled no punches as he outlined plans to increase council tax by 1.9 per cent plus an additional two per cent for adult social care - council charges across the board will also go up by at least five per cent.

In the spirit of continuing to support those most in need, the draft budget recommends that those in receipt of council tax support due to financial need will be kept out of the changes.

Coun Stan Pajak (Lib Dem), remarked that he had been a councillor for 31 years yet he could not remember such financial horror stories. He asked “has it ever been this bad?”

As the debate moved to parishing, those in the chamber showed little patience for councillors who still tried to cling to the idea that the proposals were anything other than an attempt to avert a financial crisis.

The notion that they were aimed at righting some sort of ‘democratic deficit’ in non-parished areas was met with frustrated pleas for honesty from the public and opposition councillors.

The outcome of the meeting was somewhat of a foregone conclusion - the proposals passed with ease and will go before the full cabinet next month.

But perhaps surprisingly given how far along the process we are, with just six months until a full transfer of services, it appeared that many of the detail questions still remain unanswered.

Coun Mary Martin (Con), the cabinet member responsible for parishing, appeared frustrated as councillors from her own party sought specifics she was either unwilling, or unprepared, to provide.

The decision to divide Wichelstowe up between Wroughton parish council and the new Central South Swindon parish was particularly contentious with residents raising fears that the divide was along social and economic lines.

Coun Brian Ford (Con) provided a rare moment of clarity when he said: “Wroughton wants it for the money, let’s be honest.”

The chairman of the existing Blunsdon St Andrew parish council also spoke strongly in opposition to plans to split his parish in two.

There were repeated calls for a referendum from Labour councillors and further warnings that, in their view, the precept in the North and South Central parishes could approach £200 due to inaccurate income forecasting.