COUNCILLORS will meet on Thursday to discuss the latest batch of savings to frontline services and make a decision over the proposed council tax increase.

Wokingham Borough Council is the lowest funded unitary authority in the country and councillors will be forced to save around £55m by 2020.

A council tax hike of 2.99 per cent could be approved, which would see a weekly increase of 78p per week for Band D properties.

There may also be a social care precept levy of 2.5 per cent in order to generate an additional £2.4m every year to help fund care for vulnerable adults.

Charlotte Haitham-Taylor, leader of the council, said: “We have done an excellent job at managing our budgets during recent years in the face of severe government cuts and we remain determined to continue to meet our commitments to our local communities and help our most vulnerable residents.

“By March 2020, our funding from central government will be cut by 130 per cent. We have saved more than £45m during this time, but still have to save a further £10m by 2020.”

A consultation was held before the savings were announced and residents said they valued affordable housing, weekly waste collections and road maintenance.

The council will be without a government support grant by 2020 and the cost of children and adults social care has continued to rise.

As a result of the feedback, there will be £158m invested into roads and easing traffic, while a further £170m will be put towards regeneration projects, such as the new Bulmershe Leisure Centre.

Cllr Haitham-Taylor added: “Despite being the lowest funded unitary authority in the country, we are still very ambitious.

"We are investing half a billion pounds in delivering these priorities during the next three years.

"This investment will be used to create new roads, park and ride facilities, sport hubs, schools, and community buildings, and it is being paid for by developer contributions or external funding.

"We are also working more commercially to keep council tax as low as possible. This will help us grow, prosper and fund services in the future."