Council tax to rise by 10 per cent (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Council tax to rise by 10 per cent

COTSWOLD councillors voted without dissent for a 10 per cent rise in council tax this week.

The increase, to a new Band D total of £108.02, adds £9.81 a year to the average bill, equivalent to around 20p a week.

For the first time, the Band D bill in Cirencester will total more than £1,000, reaching £1,014.36.

Central services director Bob Austin told members at the special meeting - which ended after just 15 minutes - that the county council's bill was going up by 9.6 per cent, £65.54, the equivalent of £1.26 a week, to £746.27 for Band D.

And there will be a 23p a week increase in the bill from Gloucestershire's Police Authority, whose budget is rising by £11.96 to £94.01.

Mr Austin added that the average parish tax bill would rise by around £34, about 9.8 per cent.

"An overall rise of about 10 per cent will not be unusual for local authorities," he said, "given the pressures they are all facing."