Bride Commissioners says it won't be 'bullied' into rejoining NCAS

Committee has asked to meet to come up with a solution

Bride Commissioners says it won't be 'bullied, cajoled or brought to heel' to rejoin the Northern Civic Amenity Site.

A letter sent to the local authority by the NCAS joint board says that it wants to clear up any ‘misinformation’ and ‘potential misunderstanding’ about finances.

This latest update and the commissioners' response has been made public by the local authority on Facebook.

The letter says that when Bride originally brought up it wasn’t happy with the cost in 2023 that representatives should formally write up proposals and put them to a vote.

This was carried out, with a number of options provided, but they weren’t agreeable to the rest of the board and in September 2023 these were rejected.

After that, Bride didn’t send anyone to rest of the meetings, and an advocate’s letter stating it was leaving was received by the NCAS in March this year.

Also in the letter is a suggestion from the NCAS committee that it will do a ‘mail shot’ to all residents in Bride explaining how services should be paid for and run.

It also asks again for a meeting with the local authority to come to an agreement about the running of the site.

The committee says that Bride wants to contribute less to the site, but retain the 'benefit' of high commercial rates so its residents pay less. 

However, it adds that since forming, the rateable value of the area has been used, and was used when the Department of Infrastructure was in charge.

The letter says Bride's general rates for residents are low due to a ‘high proportion’ of commercial rates from the sand and gravel quarry in the area, and according to government figures, this equates to 70% of the authority’s rates income.

The committee believes that if the quarry ceased to operate, Bride’s contribution would actually be lowered because its value would decrease and the other members would have to cover the loss.

It also believes until there’s rate reform, the ratable value is a ‘fair’ and ‘equitable’ system.

Bride Commissioners claim there are ‘factual inaccuracies’ in the initial letter and ‘threatening’ to get involved in parish affairs whilst ‘boasting’ about it to government is ‘tantamount’ to ‘political sabotage’.

It adds that when it met with solutions, only two other committee members turned up – from Ramsey and Andreas, and it claims one representative hadn’t read the proposals put forward.

On the topic of rates, the commissioners say they keep costs low because they are ‘modest’ and don’t have any ‘grandiose’ ambitions.

It also says that whilst part of the NCAS, it spent 85 percent of its budget on waste.

It ends its letter saying it and the rest of the committee will be judged on its actions at the next election.