Atherstone and district council tax update: It's looking like £1.40 a week extra next year

Council services in Atherstone and district will cost the local taxpayers an average £1.40 a week extra from April.

The final bill for council taxpayers became a lot clearer with yesterday's decision by Warwickshire County Council on its budget for 2020/21 plus the rubber stamping of its five-year medium-term financial strategy.

It will push the 'average' council taxpayers' bill to nudging £2,000 a year.

The county authority approved a rise of just under four per cent including a two per cent levy ringfenced for provision of adult care – in real terms, an annual increase of £57.20 on a band D property.

The next biggest element of the council tax bill for Atherstone and district comes in the shape of the precept levied by Warwickshire police and crime commissioner Philip Seccombe.

He wants to honour Prime Minister Boris Johnson's pledge of 20,000 extra officers for England and Wales and as a result a £9.99-a-year average increase is on the cards – with the town and surrounding villages seeing eight additional pairs of police boots in a county-wide uplift of 41 for Britain's smallest regional force.

In addition to beat bobbies there will be a six-strong rural crime team exclusively for the north of Warwickshire.

At town and borough council level, the picture looks relatively straightforward now on council tax bills from April.

It is to be an extra £1 (or two per cent) for Atherstone Town Council services and approval of the full North Warwickshire Borough Council is being sought next week on its Executive Board decision to raise its part of the 2020/21 bill by £5, or two per cent.

North Warwickshire council leader David Humphreys told Nub News today: "We will have to wait to see the outcome of the meeting but no one is keen to put tax up, we all pay enough already.

"However, the borough council hasn't put its element of council tax up for a decade now."

Putting all the components together would see an average band D yearly rise for Atherstone and district of £73.20 on top of the current figure of £1,919, Nub News estimates.

Footnote: At yesterday's county council meeting, the authority approved its Council Plan 2025 and a vision "to make Warwickshire the best it can be, sustainable now and for future generations".

The priorities set out to support Warwickshire's communities and individuals to be safe, healthy and independent and to help the most vulnerable children and adults as well as ensuring the local economies are vibrant and supported by the right jobs, training, skills and infrastructure.