Whitchurch Town Council has revised the amount it will be asking for from Shropshire Council ahead of the new financial year.

In December, the council's finance committee had its budget confirmed by members, with a five per cent precept increase.

However, at last week's full town council meeting, Councillor Alan Chesters, chair of the finance committee, confirmed the precept request would drop to 3.3 per cent, following updated figures from Shropshire Council.

"Whitchurch Town Council had worked out that the precept would rise by 3.3 per cent at an overall amount of £474,403 equals precept requirement," confirmed town clerk Nicola Young.

"But when determining the council 2019/2020 precept requirement, we take into consideration the amount of new houses built, information which is supplied from Shropshire Council.

"The figures are all based on a Band D Council Tax charge, therefore in order to show a zero per cent increase in the Band D Council Tax charge on the 2019-20 Council Tax Demand Notices this council’s precept requirement for 2019-20 would need to be £484,226.

"Therefore Councillor Chesters has suggested that Whitchurch Town Council increase the budget by £10,000 and this would allocated by adding £7,500 to the Facilities Team wages budget heading and £2,500 to the administration wages budget heading.

"Therefore bringing this council’s precept requirement to £484,403, which is slightly over the zero per cent amount for Band D, but it is a pence raise rather than pounds."

Meanwhile, also at the meeting, councillors agreed to investigate further a motion from Cllr Simon Hamlyn for a professional minute taker for meetings.

He told members the cost would be £48 per hour and would take the strain off the clerk to record information.

However, not all members were in favour, feeling it was unnecessary given the recent purchase of recording equipment, but did agree to look into it further.

The council also agreed to accept a quote of £6,155 from Barlows Electricals for installation of CCTV in Jubilee Park.

The cameras will be placed around the work shed, with one looking at the skate park, one at the Harry Richards memorial garden and one overlooking the yard.