Council tax hike approved

There will be a 4.99 percent increase in council tax in Devon for the coming financial year.

Devon county councillors have agreed an increase of 2.99 percent for general services with an extra two percent for adult social care.

The annual council tax for an average Band D home will rise by £85.59 – or £1.64 a week – to £1,801.26.

There will be increases in spending of 8.2 percent on adult services and 5.5 percent for children’s services.

Reductions in other departmental spending and increased income will mean an overall rise of 5.9 percent in the budget with a total spend of over £784.1 million.

Councillors also agreed an extra £4 million to boost highways and repair potholes since the target budget was set last month.

There will be an additional £5 million for children’s social care to provide a range of services to allow vulnerable children to be cared for closer to their families and communities.

And there’ll be an extra £500,000 to support the work of district councils and homeless organisations which brings Devon County Council’s homelessness budget up to £1 million.

The extra cash has come from the new additional council tax being levied on second homes.

The budget was approved by 38 votes with four against and seven abstentions.

Council leader James McInnes sharply criticised the Government’s decision to end the Rural Services Delivery Grant which helps councils with the extra cost of providing services in rural areas.

This had cost Devon over £10 million, he said, with funding switched to more urban areas.

In addition Devon had received the lowest financial settlement of all 21 county councils.