EXCLUSIVE

HYNDBURN householders face an overall rise in their council tax bills of just under five per cent, it was revealed last night.

The council's Tory leader Peter Britcliffe was set to reveal a "budget for safety" with cash going to provide more CCTV cameras and employ six new police community support officers.

Lancashire County Council, which takes the lion's share of the cash, also announced a rise of 4.9 per cent which will mean an average Band A household paying £909.58 from next month - a rise of around £43 and well above the current rate of inflation.

Councillor Britcliffe said: "We have been able to keep the rise below the Government target figure. Our share of the increase will be less than 13p a week. At an average price of just £2.60 per week per house our services remain great value and are less than an annual TV licence or buying a daily newspaper all year."

The council will:

  • Extend the use of CCTV cameras in the borough, investing over £200,000 in new cameras and developing a modern control centre.
  • Set aside £66,000 to improve the PCSO service over the next two years with further expansion planned.

Councillor Britcliffe said: "People say they want to feel safer and we are determined to make that happen. We are acting on points raised by our Citizen Panel who indicated that safety was the number one concern. It is important there is a match between people's priorities and those of the council. If it's important to residents it is important to us."

The council will also continue with the redevelopment of Broadway, with further schemes costing over £250,000 to improve the shopping area and make it more attractive.

More money will go to keeping Hyndburn clean with a doubling of the community caretaker scheme planned for next year and an extra £20,000 devoted to tackling the problem of dog fouling.

The council has set its budget after making almost £1M savings from its existing budget, mainly through efficiency measures.

Councillor Britcliffe concluded: "Over the last two years we have run a very tight ship and our finances are back under control."

He was set to make his budget speech to a meeting of the full council last night and a full report, including Labour reaction, will be included in next week's paper.