Salisbury vote over council tax after 44% increase planned

Residents in Salisbury will be able to vote in a parish poll on Thursday

A referendum is to be held over tax rises after a city council announced plans for a 44% increase.

Salisbury residents will vote in a parish poll on whether to cap future council tax rises at 5% on Thursday.

The move comes after Salisbury City Council voted to charge an extra £100 a year for a typical Band D property.

About 30,000 residents are eligible to vote and polls will be open between 16:00 BST - 21:00 BST. It will be the first poll of its kind in Salisbury.

Conservative councillor Eleanor Wills said the "drastic" situation of a parish poll had come about because the council had not listened to residents

The city council's decision to put up its share of council tax by 44% led to a resident requesting a public meeting in March, in which people voted in favour of a parish poll being held.

The council said that without the rise, it would have to make big cutbacks, but opponents say the level of increase is outrageous.

Residents will be asked "Do you support a 5% cap on future increases to the Salisbury City Council precept and a parish consultation if any proposed increase is larger than 5%?"

Salisbury Guildhall is one of two polling stations being used in the vote

The result is expected shortly after polls close on Thursday night and it is not legally binding.

Opposition Conservative councillors support the vote, with councillor Eleanor Wills saying the council, run by a coalition of Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independents, has to listen to residents.

"It's actually a moral argument. A moral duty for the administration to actually listen to what residents are saying and, to get to a parish poll, I think that's quite a drastic situation we've got into because they haven't listened," she told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

Salisbury mayor Tom Corbin said the poll would not change anything that had happened in the past

Labour councillor and city mayor Tom Corbin said: "There's nothing within the poll that is actually going to change the way the council works.

"Having more public consultation is something that is easily achievable and the frustrations that people might feel and the reason for why they might wish to vote in the poll won't actually change anything that's happened in the past."

People wishing to vote have to do so in person at polling stations at Salisbury Guildhall and Five Rivers Leisure Centre, and voter ID is not required.