Slight rise in council tax for Leamington residents

At a meeting last Monday, town councillors unanimously voted in favour - due to council tax reforms which mean town and parish councils lose some Government funding - of a rise in the council’s precept of 60p per year per household in a band D property.

Speaking afterwards, Cllr Alan Wilkinson, who represents the south town area, said: “We all agreed that, in order to protect our reserves, because the Government funding has been cut back, we had to add this modest rise. It will be one pence per week per household. I was very pleased that we had a collective response to act in this way.”

Councillors also voted in favour of increasing their allowances by one per cent and increasing the funding for mayoral transport by £470.

Some £3,000 is to be spent on Leamington’s twinning relationships, while £313,941 will go towards grants.

The council is also setting aside funds for elections at a rate of £210 per ward in an uncontested election and £10,000 to £12,000 on a contested election, depending on the ward size.