WEYMOUTH will have to battle for assets with the new Dorset Council – or see residents face extra bills to pay for local services in the years to come.

Councillors have been told that there is almost no chance of income-generating car parks being handed to the new town council when it comes into being in April. These will go to the new Dorset Council.

And that could mean extra charges for services in Weymouth; services being abandoned; or an above average precept on local people – the local share of the council tax.

For larger towns in the county such as Dorchester, Bridport, Blandford and Sherborne the average charge is an additional £147 a year on top of all other local council, police and fire bills.

County councillor David Harris said that without its own income, other than a precept, there would be little incentive to the new town council to run events which attracted people to the town – because any extra income from car parking fees would be taken by the new unitary council. He said the town council would be left with the additional costs of running events and paying extra to clear up afterwards.

The borough council’s scrutiny and performance committee heard that what the new town council was likely to take over in terms of services, and what it might get in assets, would not be known until October at the earliest.

At that point all existing Weymouth borough councillors will become members of the shadow town council making a start on planning for April 2019 when the new town council comes into being.

The budget and level of precept for the new authority will be set in January.

Cllr Ryan Hope said he was already hearing concerns from local people that the new council would cost each household around £150 a year extra. He said he hoped that would not be the case.

Town council project manager Julie Strange said it was too early to say what the precept might be because of the uncertainty over assets and services and whether or not the Government would agree to a harmonisation of the Dorset Council share of the council tax.

She said that because there would no longer be a borough council share of the council tax there was a hope that local people would be paying around the same figure they now pay.

Committee chairman Andy Blackwood said: “The whole argument for unitary was that it would save money. We need to keep an eye on what it will be. There will be trouble if it goes up as a result.”

Cllr Tia Roos said if the new unitary council took most of Weymouth’s assets the new town council could find itself in a difficult position: “It is likely that the tax will rise if that happens and we will have to raise the council tax because we won’t have enough money to do what we want for the town.”

Said Cllr Hope: “We should try and maintain at least one car park. We need at least one so we can get the fruits of our own rewards and so we can set fair parking levels.”

He said that while there was a recognition the new Dorset Council needed income to run vital services an income was also needed for the new town council.

Shadow Dorset Council member Cllr Alison Reed said she doubted the new council could afford to let Weymouth keep car parks, a stance which it had adopted with other towns and parishes. She said it would be up to borough councillors to try and persuade them otherwise.

“If it’s the will of the shadow town council to put that case forward we can do so…there is no harm in trying but my understanding is that it will be a very hard thing to persuade the unitary council to hand any car parks over.”