Council tax to go up by 9%

A council has approved budget that includes a 8.99% cent council tax rise.

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) councillors took the decision after 27 voted in favour and 11 against it.

This comes after the local authority received government permission to increase council tax above the normal 4.99% cap to prevent it from going bankrupt.

It is one of six cash-strapped authorities across the country that were allowed to introduce a council tax hike.

RBWM previously planned to introduce a 25% increase which was blocked by the government.

Instead, it was given permission to ramp up the tax by 9%.

In a statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Liberal Democrat leaders said: "While this will be more affordable for residents, it means that RBWM's financial situation will not improve this year.

"RBWM will still need to spend the equivalent of the originally proposed 25% increase and will now have to fund the difference by further increasing our borrowing."

The added that previous decisions taken by previous Conservative leaders to cut and freeze council tax have cost the authority about £30m a year.

In October, the council said its finances had worsened by about £1m a month since the summer.

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