COUNCIL tax in Ipswich for borough council services will increase by 2.93% from April, which means that the majority of householders will have to pay another 13p a week.

Graham Dines

COUNCIL tax in Ipswich for borough council services will increase by 2.93% from April, which means that the majority of householders will have to pay another 13p a week.

Giving details of the rise, deputy council leader John Carnall said the authority had worked “extremely hard to keep our proportion of the bill as low as possible. We have achieved this despite a very disappointing financial settlement from the Government, falling income from car parks and other council assets hit by the credit crunch, and declining investment income.”

Nevertheless, Ipswich is to spend an additional �1 million to support for University Campus Suffolk, �600,000 on road repairs, �900,000 on affordable housing, and an extra �250,000 on play facilities.”

“By protecting frontline services and making our management and housekeeping more efficient we have identified �4 million of savings while remaining committed to providing vital services such as benefits, housing advice, sport and street cleaning and recycling initiatives,” said Mr Carnall.

The borough portion of council tax only amounts to 20% with the remainder of the bill paying for county council services and policing.

The majority of homes in Ipswich are in bands B and A. Band B householders will pay an extra �6.79 next year (13p a week) for borough services while band D householder will pay an extra �8.73 (17p per week).

Liberal Democrat group leader Andrew Cann said: “This is a sensible budget that protects key services and underlines our commitment to the environment and to improving the quality of people's lives. It is especially important to keep the cost of delivering services low, particularly while many people are being buffeted by the economic downturn.”