Brighton and Hove council tax rise is a 'compromise'

The council encountered a similar problem setting the council tax in 2014

Council tax in Brighton and Hove will rise by 1.99% after a Green Party plan to raise it by 5.99% failed.

The agreement earlier between the minority Green administration and the Labour group followed a six-hour debate on Thursday, which ended in stalemate.

Any rise over 2% would have triggered a local referendum on the issue. The Conservatives wanted the council tax to be frozen.

Council leader Jason Kitcat said: "It wasn't our preferred option."

He added: "We found a compromise - we've been able to find a joint amendment that covers areas of common interest around children centres, tree planting and third sector grants.

"We're able to offer something of benefit in this compromise."

'No necessity'

The council encountered the same problem in 2014, with the Greens wanting a large increase before settling on 1.99%.

The Greens had previously said the city would lose £18m in government funding this year and the proposed 5.99% council tax rise would help "protect services for the elderly, adults in care, children and those living below the poverty line".

Speaking after the meeting, Labour councillor Warren Morgan said: "It was our aim all along to set a budget at an affordable rate and protect funding for children centres, for voluntary sector groups , for domestic violence funding and more, and we've achieved that."

However, Conservative councillor Geoffrey Theobald said: "There's no necessity to be increasing council tax.

"Even worse for our citizens that, whereas we were freezing car parking charges, they are not and consequently they are going up."