Council tax to increase by 4.99%

Council tax in East Yorkshire is to increase by 4.99% this year, which means a Band D property will pay an additional £93.37.

Rents on council housing will also go up by 4.8%, in line with inflation, leading to an average rise of £4.81 a week.

A meeting in Beverley on Thursday heard the government's Fair Funding Review would see East Riding of Yorkshire Council's central grant drop by £62m over the next three years.

Councillor Nigel Wilkinson, finance portfolio holder, said it was a balanced budget despite the authority being "in a level of financial challenge and uncertainty, not previously experienced in recent years".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the budget was approved by all but six councillors.

The two Reform UK councillors rejected the increase, along with three independent councillors.

Wilkinson told the meeting that £7.6m of flexible capital receipts had been used for the first time, which is money from selling assets, such as land or property.

The council said a programme of savings and a reorganisation of its structure was expected to save £41.8m by 2030.

Conservative leader of the council Anne Handley said: "We are strongly focused on taking action to address the huge financial challenges and ever-rising demand for services that all councils currently face, through a focus on prevention, early intervention and transformation."

Liberal Democrat Councillor Denis Healy, the leader of the opposition, said: "My concern is that this council, under decades of Conservative leadership, has drifted into a position where transformation is being driven by financial crisis rather than political choice."

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