By David LennardSECOND home owners will have to wait until the New Year to discover how much extra Council Tax they will have to pay.Waveney District Council's executive has deferred making a decision on reducing the Council Tax discount given to second home owners from 50% to 10%.

By David Lennard

SECOND home owners will have to wait until the New Year to discover how much extra Council Tax they will have to pay.

Waveney District Council's executive has deferred making a decision on reducing the Council Tax discount given to second home owners from 50% to 10%.

There are currently about 52,000 properties in the district, of which 1,350 qualify for the current 50% second home reduction - but under new Government legislation that discount can be cut.

The Conservative-controlled council is committed to keeping any Council Tax rise as low as possible next year and is looking to make use of the extra revenue that cutting the discount to second home owners would generate.

It is estimated if the discount was reduced to 10%, an extra £557,635.39 would be raised - but Waveney District Council would only receive 10% of that, equivalent to £57,860.37.

Of the remainder of the extra revenue, £445,104.39 would go to Suffolk County Council and £54,670.63 to Suffolk Police Authority.

A spokesman for Waveney District Council said: “The matter was deferred to allow more discussions between ourselves and the county council to see if this extra money can be used for funding various joint projects.

“A final decision on what Council Tax discount to offer second home owners in Waveney will be taken in January.”

A large number of second homes in north Suffolk are in the Southwold area, with 400 of the 1,200 registered properties qualifying for the current 50% discount.

Southwold Town Council has called for any extra revenue generated by reducing the second home Council Tax discount to be spent in the area.

david.lennard@eadt.co.uk