Council tax bills will rise by more than £80 for residents living in Cheshire West and Chester.

For householders in a Band D property it will mean shelling out an extra £82 per year to pay for local services.

All the precepting authorities – Cheshire West and Chester Council, police and fire – have now agreed the increases in their budgets.

The biggest share is from Labour-led Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) which provides wide ranging services from schools and highway maintenance to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children.

And the administration has been attacked by the Tories for hitting residents in the pocket with an almost 5% council tax rise.

New CWaC leader Samantha Dixon. Photo by Ian Cooper
New CWaC leader Samantha Dixon. Photo by Ian Cooper

But council leader Samantha Dixon puts the blame on their government.

She told fellow members at the meeting: “This budget is about taking tough decisions in difficult times and my goodness they are difficult. It’s about successfully continuing to deliver frontline services, protect the vulnerable and deal with the massive cuts from central government.

“Since 2010 in cash terms this council has seen its budget reduced by £330m.”

Councillors voted through a 4.99% council tax increase comprising a 2% precept for adult social care and 2.99% for general council services. This equates to an extra £1.32 a week for residents in a Band D property – or £68.64 a year.

Cllr Dixon continued: “This administration doesn’t want to increase the council tax but inaction from central government on local government funding and social care funding leaves us no choice if we are to keep our services running. This is a choice that almost all councils have had to make.

Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) HQ Building in Chester

“We are in the most sustained period of austerity since the Second World War and remember, austerity is a political choice not an economic necessity. Austerity is damaging the fabric of our nation.

“The continuation of this political dogma will put it beyond repair.

“I want the opposition to be responsible, to join with us to ask their government to stop austerity; it needs to end, it needs to end now.”

But the Tories released a statement afterwards in which they claimed Labour had a choice to back its package of budget proposals that would have meant lower council tax and a boost to the borough’s economy.

The Conservatives tabled what they called ‘a fully-costed alternative’ that would have meant asking residents for an extra 3.5% rise in council tax bills made up for 1.5% for general council services plus the 2% precept for adult social care.

Conservative Group leader Cllr Lynn Riley

Conservative Group leader Cllr Lynn Riley argued the pro-growth agenda from the Conservative-led council prior to 2015 had delivered higher than expected council tax funds leaving £6m in a reserve fund.

She said: “Most people will wonder why their taxes are going up again when the council has underspent its budgets for the past two years and a surplus exists with no plans in place as to how to spend it.

“This seems unfair to us. We always want to keep council tax as low as possible and in seven years only put the council tax up by £43. It’s gone up by £240 in only three years under Labour and at a time when we are expecting interest rates rises in response to the growing UK economy. We have to conclude that Labour want people to struggle to make the political points about cuts.”

The Conservatives said their budget protected vital extra funding such as £1.6m for vulnerable children and £5m for adults and allocated new funding for pothole, pavement and parking priorities.

An artist's impression of what the proposed Northgate Development could look like
An artist's impression of what the proposed Northgate Development could look like

Tory opposition members said that ‘with millions of pounds tied up in costly projects’ like Barons Quay, Northgate and now Winsford, the Conservative alternative budget allocated funds for ‘a new approach’ to attracting inward investment and jobs.

The Conservatives proposed the creation of a £3m Energy Innovation Fund to deliver green schemes to help alleviate fuel poverty, drive down carbon footprint and bring new income streams into the council to fund frontline services.

■ The rise in the Cheshire police element of council bills has now been set by Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane at 7.3 per cent for a Band D equivalent property for 2018 to 2019 from £164.44 to £176.44 – £1 extra per month. Cheshire Fire Authority agreed a 2.99% increase, equivalent to an additional £2.19 per year to £75.48 for a Band D household.