Tax rise warning

For many people this could mean a band-D tax of nearly 1,200 a rise of some 4 per week on this year.

Cllr Daphne Bagshawe, deputy leader, said: 'This is an incredibly complex settlement and very hard to understand.

'Some of the fine detail is still awaited but the fundamental picture is crystal clear.

'The Government is proposing to give us an extra 10 million, the equivalent of only 2.5 per cent of the council's overall budget.

'The very minimum we need to maintain core services at current levels is 37 million. The gap between the two has to come from council tax if services are not to be savaged.

'It is remarkable, if one looks at the shift in funding, to see that the South East suffers huge funding losses while the west and east Midlands and the North generally seem to be big beneficiaries. I wonder why this is?

'The Government claims the settlement includes a 14 million increase for education, but given we can identify only an extra 10 million cash increase for all council services, we don't see how this can be the case.

'Additionally, the Government's allocation for social service requirements indicates a cut of 400,000, despite the significant additional funding which the Government's own Social Services' Inspectorate says is needed to ensure the necessary improvements in services for older people.'

Cllr Peter Jones, council leader, said: 'It is surely bizarre to take money from one of the poorest counties in England in terms of gross domestic product and force massive council tax increases on a community with some of the lowest earnings per head in the country.

'We also have the highest proportion of elderly people in the country, many of whom are on low fixed incomes

'This is wholly at odds with the Government's stated intentions to introduce a fairer funding system for local government. What is fair about this?'