Council tax bills notch up lowest rise yet

This year the national average bill for a Band D property will stand at 1,439, up from 1,414 this year, with some councils in Yorkshire increasing bills by less than 1.5 per cent.

In Calderdale, councillors decided to cut bills by one per cent, Hull Council announced a council tax freeze for the next financial year, and Bradford announced a 0.9 per cent rise.

Sheffield Council initially said it would increase bills by 1.5 per cent, but then revised the figure to 1.39 per cent while councillors in Leeds put up their bills by 2.5 per cent.

Local Government Secretary John Denham said the average below-inflation increase had been made possible by a four per cent rise in central funding for councils from next month.

Mr Denham added: "The lowest-ever increase has been made possible by a 45 per cent real increase in Government funding for local services since 1997.

"Our continued commitment will see councils receive an average four per cent funding increase in April – helping to protect and improve front-line services.

"Councils will have some tough choices ahead as things become tighter, but that is no reason to lower their sights on delivering service quality people rightly value.

"Local people will rightly be intolerant of any council if they are told that care, libraries or youth services will be cut because they have not followed our radical reforms to protect the frontline services which matter most to people."

Council tax has been a contentious issue at most councils in the region, with Doncaster mayor Peter Davies seeing a three per cent council tax cut voted down by councillors and replaced by a 2.95 per cent increase.

Other metropolitan Yorkshire councils have imposed increases of between two and three per cent; East Riding residents will see a rise of 1.5 per cent.

North Yorkshire Council has increased its share of bills by 2.94 per cent with further increases added by each of the district councils.

The average Band D council tax for 2010/11 will be 1,309 in London, 1,399 in other English cities and 1,484 in shire counties.

Figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government showed that the highest bills for Band D households will be in Rutland (1,689), Hartlepool (1,671), Kingston-upon-Thames (1,663) and Newark & Sherwood (1,651).

Smallest bills for Band D homes are in the London boroughs of Wandsworth (687), Westminster (688) and the City of London (950).

Shadow Local Government Secretary Caroline Spelman said: "Council tax is Gordon Brown's most painful stealth tax. Under his watch, council tax bills have doubled while frontline services like weekly bin collections have halved. You pay more and get less under Labour."

The chairman of the Local Government Association, Margaret Eaton, said: "Local authorities understand that money is tight for everyone and deserve credit for keeping council tax rises lower than ever before.

"Many councils will freeze or even cut council tax, meaning more money in the pockets of residents. Others are having to deal with a unique set of circumstances and face acute pressures on their finances."