COUNCIL tax in Bromley will rise by 4.9 per cent after councillors approved this year's budget, on Monday night.

The above inflation increase voted through at a meeting of the full council combines a 4.8 per cent increase by the council plus a 5.3 per cent rise by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, whose share of the tax bill funds the police, London Fire Brigade and Transport for London.

The decision means band D homes in the borough will be charged £1,217.70p in the coming financial year. It remains the lowest tax bill in outer London.

The Government had warned all councils to keep tax rises below five per cent.

Cllr Stephen Carr, leader of Bromley council, said the increase was necessary to offset a below-inflation increase in Government funding. Inflation currently stands at three per cent, but the council has received less than a 1.8 per cent increase in grant money.

Cllr Carr stressed: "The Government has, yet again, failed to meet its fair share of the costs of the growing demand for our services and is trying to divert the blame for its own mismanagement on to local councils."

He added: "We listen to what our residents want, we are not afraid to battle on their behalf against anyone who wants to impose a different set of priorities and we will do all we can to let them keep more of their own money in their pockets."

Members of the opposition abstained from the budget vote.

A Lib Dem motion to spend an extra £700,000 on road and tree maintenance by cutting costs of agency staff and consultants was defeated.

Cllr Carr said the budget already included cost reductions in those areas.

FULL STORY IN NEXT WEEK'S BROMLEY EXTRA