Council approves 2.99% tax rise to balance books

Norwich City Council has announced council tax will increase

Norwich City Council has approved plans to raise tax by 2.99% as it attempts to balance its books.

It means people living in Band D properties will pay an extra £8.89 a year for services such as bin collections and street cleaning.

Labour councillor Paul Kenrick insisted it was necessary to avoid cutting services and said the rise was lower than those seen in other areas because of the authority's "financial prudence".

But independent councillor Karen Davis said: "This will be a further burden on some of our already struggling residents in a cost of living crisis."

The council outlined £3.2m of savings and additional income it needs to make this year but expected its budget gap to continue to widen in years to come.

As part of the budget, £250,000 was set aside to fund a bid to create a new Greater Norwich unitary authority.

Under the government's devolution and reorganisation plans, Norfolk's eight councils all face abolition.

The money has been reserved to help develop a strong case for the unitary bid, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The budget also included spending £740,000 for exploratory work on drawing up designs for a possible revamp of Norwich Market and a further £750,000 on a project to possibly redevelop City Hall to create a new hotel or flats.