This Is Cheshire

4.4% rise sums up annual increase

From the Guardian Series, first published Thursday 10th Mar 2005.

COUNCIL tax bills in Knutsford are going up.

Tory-controlled Macclesfield Borough Council last week agreed a 4.4% increase.

The average homeowner will now pay about £1,230 a year - a rise of about £80 a year.

The decision, though, angered Labour leader Stephen Carter.

He claimed the borough still had £17 million in its coffers from last year's budget.

"If you look at the figures it is there to see," he claimed.

"It is money they [the council] have taken from taxpayers with promises made in previous budgets to spend it and they are failing to do so."

No one at the Macclesfield-based authority was yesterday available to comment.

This year's increase for residents in Knutsford and the surrounding villages is less than last year's 8.5% rise. But Clr Carter said Labour councillors were still outraged. "Even though the Government has gone and given a good settlement to Macclesfield, the council has failed to make savings for the Knutsford area," he said.

The increase comes just weeks after Tory-controlled Cheshire County Council set one of its lowest council tax rises ever of 2.7%.

That was criticised by Labour councillors who said the Tories' plans would damage partnerships, staff training, technological improvements, highway maintenance and services for adults with special needs.

Homes were valued - and put into bands - in 1991.

They are due to be reviewed and re-banded in 2007.

It is not known how that will affect homeowners and, more importantly, their council tax demands.

Last month it emerged that Macclesfield Borough Council had yet to collect, or spend, more than £2 million donated by developers who were given permission to build in the borough. The figures were revealed as councillors started to scrutinise the council's handling of commuted sums.

"There is a lot of money taken from developers to spend on things like playing fields and highways and here it is sitting in a bank account," said Clr Carter.

"If the money was there to spend they should spend it."

The scrutiny committee is expected to take six months to complete its investigation.

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