Residents to be given say on council tax increases

Jul 30 2010 By Jonathan Walker

Residents will gain the power to vote down excessive council tax increases under reforms announced today (Friday).

Councils attempting to impose major increases on taxpayers will be forced to submit their plans to a referendum of local voters.

The aim is to make local authorities more accountable to residents and force them to defend their budget decisions.

Under new laws, Parliament will set a maximum council tax limit which authorities are allowed to impose without a vote.

Any council that wants to push up bills by a higher amount will have to hold a referendum.

The average council tax bill in the West Midlands went up by just 2.1 per cent last year.

But authorities have imposed much higher increases in the past. In 2003-4, Band D bills in the region increased by ten per cent on average.

Mr Pickles said: “Hardworking families and pensioners were left feeling powerless and frustrated under the previous government, as council tax bills doubled while their frontline services like weekly bin collections were halved.

“If councils want to increase council tax further, they will have to prove the case to the electorate. Let the people decide.

“The new Government is committed to tackling the fiddled funding which drove up council tax, but such reforms must go hand in hand with measures to protect the interests of local taxpayers.

“This is a radical extension of direct democracy, as part of a wider programme of decentralising power to local communities. Power should not just be given to councils, but be devolved further down to neighbourhoods and citizens.”