No top council tax rise for first time since 2011

Council tax in Coventry will rise by less than the maximum allowed for the first time in 15 years.

Residents will see a 3.95% increase to their bills this April, lower than the maximum 4.99% allowed before triggering a referendum. The council's budget report says it will mean bills for a Band D home will increase by around £83 a year.

Coventry City Council signed off the rise along with the rest of its budget at a meeting of the full council on Tuesday.

Last week, Warwickshire agreed a rise of 4.44% after other parties united to block Reform's plans for a 3.89% hike. That'll add about £80 a year to a Band D property's bill.

Inflation currently sits at 3%, and the Tories had proposed an alternative budget that matched that figure, they said.

Councillor Gary Ridley, leader of the Conservative opposition, said: "This council should not take one penny more in tax than is required. Yet we've ended up with a tax-raising budget to fund their wasteful spending."

But councillor Richard Brown, Labour's cabinet member for finance, said the rise would allow the council to put "even more funding into the services that residents have told us matter most to them".

An alternative budget from Reform suggested introducing financial support for people wishing to have dropped kerbs installed outside their homes.

It also detailed a proposal to share services with Warwickshire to save money and taper council tax support for care leavers.

The Green Party suggested rolling back some of the more recent cuts to library services. But both alternative budgets were voted down by the other parties.

The below-maximum rise will mean the council loses £1.8m from its total possible budget, but the local authority insists it will still be able to invest sufficiently - citing an additional £7.7m due to be put into services.

It said it was looking at a one-off £2m investment to improve roads, footpaths, street cleaning and tackle fly-tipping. Extra staff are also due to be recruited to help deal with anti=social behaviour.

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.