Cumbria county councillors this week backed plans to hike the Council Tax by 12 per cent in the coming financial year - despite the results of a £5,000 consultation in which residents overwhelmingly opted for the lowest of three Council Tax options of ten, 12 or 14 per cent.

Pothole patching, street lighting, verge and gully maintenance could all be scaled down after the council's cabinet also announced £2.7 million cuts to the highway maintenance budget, which members said would lead to "tough spending choices".

Householders in average band D properties can expect the county council share of their bills to hit £890.

CCC deputy leader Coun Mike Ash said the authority had opted for the middle road between highway cuts of up to £5.5 million and tax rises between ten and 15 per cent in a bid to find a "reasonable compromise".

The leading Liberal Democrat/ Conservative alliance warned steep tax rises were on the cards last month after receiving what they branded a "devastating" grant settlement from Government, which also saw highways budgets cut by £5.5 million.

CCC leader Rex Toft said the blame for both service cuts and tax rises "should be laid fairly and squarely on the door of Labour ministers."

Coun Ash said pleas to Government for more cash appeared to have fallen on deaf ears, and on Monday (January 3) the authority learned it had lost a further half million pounds due to last-minute alterations to its grant share.

Some council departments will see spending increases - such as education with 7.5 per cent increase and social services, 13 per cent.

Labour leader Coun Stewart Young described the tax figure - yet to be backed by full council - as "quite staggering."

He rejected claims that a poor grant settlement was behind the hike, arguing CCC was still among the top six highest-funded authorities in the country.

And he accused the leadership of failing to get their priorities right by spending £3 million on consultants and £800,000 on senior officers' pay.

"Setting the budget is the most important thing the authority does If this goes ahead, they will have increased council tax by 20 per cent over two years."

He also warned that cuts to highways maintenance would have a knock-on effect on Cumbria Contract Services highways work load, and claimed job losses could follow.

But cabinet transport spokesman Kevan Wilkinson said the full force of £5.5 million highways cuts would have been "horrendous", adding: "I think this is a fair and equitable decision."

See Publications - Gazette page 2 for a chart showing the estimated changes to current tax bands.

February 7, 2003 09:00