People in West Berkshire can expect another two council tax hikes over the next two years, a new report suggests.

West Berkshire Council will be left with multi-million pound funding gaps each year between 2020 and 2023 even with three consecutive 3.99 per cent council tax increases, according to the council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Earlier this year, the Conservative-run council approved a 3.99 per cent hike (including two per cent rise for adult social care funding) and £3.24 million of cuts.

And even if it implements two more 3.99 per cent tax hikes over the following two years, it will need to save a further £12.54 million to balance the books, according to the strategy.

The council, which is legally required to set a balanced budget each year, no longer receives a revenue support grant from the government and uses the money generated by council tax to fund almost 70 per cent of services.

Under the current rules, local authorities in England can raise council tax by up to 2.99 per cent, plus a further two per cent if they provide social care. They cannot impose a larger hike without holding a referendum.

West Berkshire Council has also been forced to deal with increased costs and lost income during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the government has supported the council with £8.6 million of emergency funding so far and it could soon provide a further £2 million.

READ MORE: West Berkshire Council says ‘we will do our bit’ to help child refugees

To help fund public services in the future, West Berkshire Council recently invested around £65 million in commercial properties, such as shops, offices and warehouses, and it expects a two per cent return each year.

It had planned to invest £100 million, but the ambitious project was halted earlier this year, after the government raised concerns about councils across the country using low-cost loans to invest in property.

At a meeting of the council’s Governance and Ethics Committee on August 24, Councillor Jeremy Cottam called for a review of the commercial investments and raised concerns about the impact the Covid-19 pandemic is having on those investments.

The Liberal Democrat councillor said: “I see this as a very high financial risk to this council and would urge that we look at this promptly and even review, maybe even divest.”

But Cllr Jeff Beck (Conservative) said it may be “premature to go too deeply into this” because “the market has not yet settled down”.

READ MORE: Plans to transform London Road Industrial Estate back on track

Cllr Tony Linden (Conservative) said: “I don’t think we should be rash on this and rush at things. We need to take a measured approach.

“With the property market, like the stock market, you need to make rational decisions over the long and medium term.”

He added: “On balance, a lot of our investments are still very, very viable, so there isn’t a problem.”

Cllr Rick Jones (Conservative) said the council “halted commercial investment some time ago” when the market was “disrupted”.

He added: “I know the executive have been looking at other ways of using the capital monies that were borrowed, for different purposes.”