Council tax payers in Atherstone and district will have to dig much deeper into their pockets from April as on average they will face paying around £50 more than last year.

Although all components of the financial equation are not yet in place, Atherstone Nub News understands that the 2020/21 bill will come out around 2.5 per cent higher than last year for band D households.

One thing is certain, the North Warwickshire Borough Council element of the tax bill will see the first increase for 10 years.

Policy-makers on the local authority admitted last night they can no longer prevent a decade-long moratorium on their part in the tax bill process.

"There have been no increases in council tax, as far as North Warwickshire is concerned, since 2010/11," council leader David Humphreys told Atherstone Nub News.

But the local authority, like 97 per cent of others in England, plan to put up council tax in the next financial year which begins in April.

The decision to raise the council tax for North Warwickshire residents of £5, or two per cent whichever is the greater, came in a raft of recommendations approved by the authority's Executive Board.

In addition to the increase, which goes to full council on February 26, the committee agreed savings of £409,000 in the coming year in a revised budget for 2020/21 of £8.69 million.

Atherstone and district council tax payers now know two parts of the bill – a £5 rise for the borough and an average £1 extra (or two per cent) for town council services.

The biggest increases on council tax bills will come with the new precept set by Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe to help pay for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledge of 20,000 extra officers – with the largest portion emanating from the Warwickshire County Council precept to pay for education and social care.

Locally, a 2.5 per cent increase in council tax would put £32 on a band A bill which last year was £1,279 and £48 on the 'average' band D payer, currently having to find £1,919 annually.