CITY dwellers will be hit with an extra tax if the leader of the new Cheshire West and Chester Council gets his way.

Cllr Mike Jones (Con, Broxton) wants every community to have its own parish council to provide facilities like play areas and village halls and to monitor planning applications as well as tackling other issues affecting its area.

He says this would provide local ownership and accountability and help solve problems particular to that neighbourhood.

But such bodies have their own budget and tax-raising powers, with the extra cost added to the council tax.

This sticks in the craw for those already living in parished areas – mainly in rural communities – who pay the extra tax but receive the same services as their non-parished counterparts.

That’s why Cllr Jones wants to make everybody the same by parishing the entire district after Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) takes over on April 1.

He told a scrutiny committee of the shadow council: “My personal view, subject to the executive and the council agreeing it, is that we should look at promoting town and parish councils throughout the area because my experience of parish councils is they do a really good job.”

Cllr Jones told The Chronicle afterwards that in theory, for example, Hoole and Newton could be covered by a parish council which might levy a precept of £10 per household per year raising perhaps £100,000 for investment in local facilities.

He accepted his suggestion would spark “a debate” but believes people can be convinced of the arguments and might even want to stand for election to their local parish council.

“People do take an interest in the community if they see a value in it,” said Cllr Jones, who added that existing parish councils for Upton and Great Boughton in urban Chester were “pretty busy” organisations.

Cllr Jones said the alternative way of addressing the inequality between parished and unparished areas would be to grant special expenses to parished areas.

The council areas being taken over by CWAC are Chester, which is 67% parished, Vale Royal, which is completely parished and Ellesmere Port which is unparished.