Shropshire Council's freezes its council tax portion

Shropshire Council has approved plans to freeze its portion of council tax for a fourth consecutive year.

The decision comes as the Conservative-led authority has to make a savings total of almost £86m by 2014, saving £21m over the next financial year.

Councillors approved the plans at a meeting on Thursday.

The authority said the amount of council tax for an average Band D property would be £1,488.18 of which the council will get £1,164.72.

Councillors also approved plans to reduce the price of park-and-ride journeys in Shrewsbury for pensioners, young people and the disabled.

Parking charges will also be reduced on eight Sundays during the summer.

More than 500 members of staff have already left the council.

Many of the cuts had been made through voluntary redundancies or not filling behind people when they left the organisation, the council said.