Council tax payers in villages neighbouring Atherstone will find their bills top £2,000 for the first time from April.

And that puts Baddesley Ensor as the most expensive place to live in North Warwickshire with the 'average' charge for band D properties rising by almost £90 to reach the landmark barrier.

Average council tax payers in Baxterley face the same prospect of breaching that £2,000 figure.

Meanwhile, council services in Atherstone and district will cost the local taxpayers an average £1.40 a week extra from the next financial year as predicted last week by Nub News.

The final bill for local taxpayers became a lot clearer after North Warwickshire Borough Council voted to raise their portion of the council tax by £5 for band D properties – no longer able to prevent a moratorium lasting 10 years.

In a statement released after the full council decision last night, a local authority spokeswoman said keeping the rate pegged for a decade had saved taxpayers around £1 million over the period.

She added: "During this time the council has taken the opportunity to save costs, restructure and reduce staffing to improve efficiency and effectiveness within the council.

"However, the opportunities to save significant amounts of money through further efficiencies are now limited.

"The council needs to make £1.7m in savings over the next three years with a savings target of £700,000 for 2021/22."

Band D households in Atherstone will pay £1,992.90 a year for their council services, starting in April – up £73.42 from £1,919.48 in 2019/20.

It is made up of an Atherstone Town Council element of £53.76 a year (up from £52.39 last year); a bill of £212.30 for North Warwickshire Borough (up 2.41 per cent from £207.30 in 2019/20); £237.97 for the services provided on behalf of the Warwickshire police and crime commissioner Philip Seccombe (up 4.38 per cent from £227.98 last year); and a new Warwickshire County Council levy of £1,488.87 – up £57.06 from last year's precept of £1,431.81.

Baddesley's band D payers face a new bill of £2,063.88 with the parish council element making the big difference – rising by £17.89 (up nearly 17 per cent) from £106.85 to £124.74. The yearly increase is £89.94.

The other three elements in the council tax calculation will be the same for all towns and parishes in North Warwickshire.

Baxterley's new bill for council services in 2020/21 will be £2031.66, ironically a slight reduction in its parish council element – falling 39p from £93.91 this year to £92.52 next.

Band D households in Bentley and Merevale face a bill of £1,956.02 next year with the parish element rising just 26p from £16.62 to £16.88.

In Grendon the parish council precept is up 7p from £29.72 to £29.79 and the overall bill for 2020/21 will be £1,968.93.