COUNCIL tax in Blackburn with Darwen will be frozen when the local authority sets its budget next month. Hyndburn Borough Council will follow suit.

The two councils will join Ribble Valley in freezing the equivalent of the rates for residents.

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Blackburn with Darwen finance boss Cllr Andy Kay gave the good news at a consultation meeting of leaders of business, community and voluntary groups on Monday night.

He said: “This year we will be going for no council-tax increase. We are going to accept the government’s bribe of one per cent of our budget or £490,000.

“It will be the fifth year we have frozen council tax for our 60,000 households.”

Lancashire Constabulary will impose a rise of 1.99 per cent, or 6p a week, on the bill.

Last year, the council-tax bill for an average-sized band-D property in Blackburn with Darwen totalled £1,486.46 for 2014-15 before any extra parish-council levy of up to £5. Darwen Town Council has already frozen its £122-a-year precept for the coming year.

Cllr Kay said: “At the borough finance meeting on March 2, we will be proposing a council-tax freeze for 2015-16.

“We do not think hard-pressed residents can, in the current circumstances, afford to pay any more.

“We are facing huge cuts in Whitehall grants and trying to save frontline services but, as a Labour group, we did not think that the people of our borough could afford to pay anything extra.”

As an all-purpose authority, Blackburn with Darwen will be unaffected by any decision by Lancashire County Council on whether to increase its levy.

The Fire & Rescue Authority, which does affect the borough, has yet to make a decision on its precept.

Hyndburn’s cabinet was meeting this morning to confirm it will freeze its portion of the council tax, which, with the county-council, fire and police levies, last year totalled £1,557.87 for band-D properties.

Labour leader Miles Parkinson said: “We decided to freeze council tax because we could not any put extra financial burdens on our residents.”

  • Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has congratulated Ribble Valley for freezing its council tax for the fifth year running.

Lancashire’s cabinet will meet tomorrow to confirm the plan to increase council tax for its 12 boroughs by 1.99 per cent. The final budget proposals will go to a full council meeting a week later.

Cllr David Borrow, the authority’s deputy leader, said: “Equivalent to just over 42p per week for a band-D property, the increase would bring in an additional £7.5 million. If we do not do it, the gap in the council’s funding will become bigger and service reductions more severe.”