Council tax to climb by 10%

The inflation-busting increase of nearly five times the rise in the cost of living means the amount the council will take from its residents will reach 685,220 from next April.

The 9.48 per cent hike in the charge '“ compared to an inflation rate of 2.1 per cent '“ equals 7.04 extra for the average band D property. This will take the annual bill payable for that household to 88.85.

But there is worse news for voluntary groups around the town. The amount which the town council gives out in grants and sponsorship is being cut by 10 per cent.

Grant aid will be slashed from a budgeted 11,543 this year to 10,457. The council's events budget is also set to fall drastically to just under 60,000 from just over 78,000. The double dose of bad news was revealed by the leader of the Liberal Democrat-run council, Cllr Greg Burt.

He said the council was suffering from the effects of compensating for Arun District Council's failure to fully fund services such as public toilets, the museum and weather station.

This caused the expenses of the services to be borne by just 20,000 or so residents around Bognor compared to being spread among Arun district's 100,000 inhabitants.

But one glimmer of good news amid the financial gloom was the 10,000 the council is adding to the usual 25,000 put aside for capital projects.

Health and safety training for staff who worked outside would also be stepped up.

Cllr Burt said announcing the new budget brought him a mixture of pleasure and regret.

"It is pleasure that we have tried to stretch council taxpayers' funds further, pleasure that we are able to make additional funds available to new priorities and pleasure that we are keeping the council tax increase below that of previous administrations in their first year.

"My ... regret is the reduction in funding to outside bodies. But I am sure that they will appreciate our situation," he stated.