'Folly' not to raise council tax, says leader

Stephen Conway said Wokingham Borough Council had to raise council tax

It would be "folly" not to raise council tax by the maximum amount allowed, a council leader has said.

Wokingham Borough Council voted to increase council tax by 4.99%, as councillors approved spending plans that also included £16m worth of spending cuts.

It means the average mid-valued Band D home in the borough will pay £2,262.93 a year from April - an increase of £105.

Liberal Democrat leader Stephen Conway said he would "rather not" increase council tax, but "experience shows us the folly of too heavy a reliance on reserves to cover current expenditure".

At a meeting on Thursday, he pointed to Windsor and Maidenhead council, which in September said it risked becoming the latest local authority to effectively go bankrupt.

"Neighbouring Windsor and Maidenhead levied a nil percent council tax for several years, paying for services by running down reserves," he said.

He also said that Wokingham Borough Council received the lowest level of government grant funding of all the councils in Berkshire.

Wokingham Borough Council was warned in October that it could be effectively bankrupt within a few years

But Conservative opposition leader Pauline Jorgensen accused the Liberal Democrats of losing control of the council’s finances.

"The Liberal Democrats can’t live within their means," she said.

Leader of the Labour group Andy Croy, meanwhile, blamed Conservative-led governments for cutting funding for local councils.

Conservative councillors voted against the council’s spending plans, but they were approved with the Liberal Democrats and Labour voting in favour.

In a separate vote, Liberal Democrats and Labour councillors also voted for the maximum council tax increase while Conservatives abstained, meaning it was also approved.