Five per cent council tax hike is agreed

Council tax in Cambridgeshire is going up by five per cent after a “chaotic” meeting where councillors debated ways to fill a £13 million hole in their budget.

On Tuesday Cambridgeshire County Council agreed to increase its council tax bill by £62.50 a year for the average Cambridgeshire family in a Band D property.

Two per cent of the increase is ringfenced for adult social care precept.

This will contribute a further £2.758 million to the budget.

As part of a Conservative amendment, the council also committed an additional £28.7 million to improve the county’s road network.

Cllr Mathew Shuter, chairman of the council’s highways and community infrastructure committee, said he “dreamed about potholes” and that the council had listened to the public who were calling for something to be done about the state of the county’s highways.

Lib Dem David Jenkins, however, said the council had “lost control” of potholes.

The meeting was characterised by spirited, sometimes bad-tempered, exchanges between opposing parties, and was branded “chaotic” by Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, leader of the Liberal Democrat group.

Labour had called for cash to “reverse service cuts” for early years provision and children’s services. Labour leader Cllr Joan Whitehead said children’s services are like the “Cinderella” of council spending and never get enough. They also called for more funding for libraries and street lighting.