Borough residents could face council tax increase of £5

Band D residents in Fareham may see another increase of £5 in council tax in a bid to keep ongoing services.

Executive leader of Fareham Borough Council, Councillor Sean Woodward said: ‘The proposal we will be making is a £5 increase for our borough’s council tax.

‘It works out about one pence a day to ensure all our services keep running.’

Fareham Borough Council had previously managed to freeze its part of council tax but the government is expecting the local authority to increase council tax in order to bring the tax up towards the level it would have been at had the tax not been frozen during the previous six years.

Councillor Woodward added: ‘This will just help us maintain the services we have already and the government expects us to increase tax by that amount.

‘The majority of houses in our borough are a Band C and I think people are very happy with the services they have and we are still one of the lowest district councils for council tax.

The opposition leader, Liberal Democrat Councillor Roger Price supported the plans.

Councillor Price said: ‘I think council tax has to increase to keep our services running.

‘It is only a suggestion for the moment because the government has recently announced council tax can be raised by 2.99 per cent.

‘There is also of course the increase for the police tax of £12 potentially and I expect Hampshire County Council will also increase so it could start to add up,’ he added.