THE COUNCIL leader for Woodley has revealed how much council tax has increased for residents.

The increase comes after Woodley Town council launched a consultation to residents, asking them what level of increase residents would find acceptable.

The final decision was made on Tuesday, February 9, at a full council meeting, to raise the council tax by 56p per month, less than a third of what residents deemed an 'acceptable' rise.

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Cllr Keith Baker, leader of the Woodley Town Council, said: "As Town Council Leader I want to say a thanks to the one in five households, that is 2,384 responses, who responded to the Town Council consultation on what you could find acceptable, albeit reluctantly in many cases, as a Town Council Tax increase.

WOODLEY TOWN COUNCIL TAX INCREASE

WOODLEY TOWN COUNCIL TAX INCREASE

"Many of you also provided invaluable comments, all of which was fed into the budget setting process.

"At a meeting of the Full Council, an increase of just 56p per month for a Band D house was approved."

The new tax precept applies for the 2021-2022 financial year, and was raised to mitigate income losses caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

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Cllr Baker added: "95.5 per cent of those who responded accepted an increase of £1.86 a month or more. So 56p is less than one third of what was deemed to be acceptable.

"At the same time residents rightly pointed out that reserves should be the first to be used for any shortfall.

Cllr Keith Baker, WTC leader

Cllr Keith Baker, WTC leader

"I can confirm that reserves are covering £123K shortfall for this financial year and £111K for a projected shortfall for the next financial year.

"In anticipation of our facilities re-opening, we have frozen all fees and charges for next year.

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"This has all been done without making any staff redundant or closing any facilities.

"If the next financial turns out to be better than expected the Conservative Group are committed to freezing and even reducing the Town Council tax for the year after."