Residents' 4.9 per cent rise in Council Tax

COUNCIL tax across South Cambridgeshire will rise by 4.9 per cent. The increase was approved at a meeting of South Cambridgeshire District Council on Thursday. The average district council part of the tax bill for 2006-07 will be £97.48 for a Band D property - an increase of £4.55 a year. Council leader Cllr Sebastian Kindersley said: "This council continues to provide good value for money. Over the last decade, South Cambridgeshire council tax payers have paid less than half as much as those served by district councils setting an average council tax. "At the same time, our residents receive a range of services that are vital to local quality of life. "In this context, the Government's decision to cap the council's budget last year is even more bizarre," he said. Cllr Kindersley warned that the "consequences of the Government's folly" would hit residents and services in the coming years. He continued: "What we do is pretty impressive when you consider that South Cambridgeshire is part of the fastest growing county in the country. "The district's population is set to grow by a third by 2016, yet we still have one of the lowest council tax rates among district councils." He said that even on a reduced budget the council was still leading the way in many services. For example, he said, the district has the third highest recycling rate in the country and deals with double the number of planning applications than average.