A BOROUGH is set to freeze its share of the council tax for the coming year.

Ribble Valley’s Special Policy and Finance Committee ignored a recommendation from its Budget Working Group to increase the levy on households by £5 a year for a Band D family home.

Instead it chose to recommend the next full council meeting to peg its annual council tax to £155.59, the same as last year and the lowest in Lancashire.

Ribble Valley Council’s Conservative leader Cllr Stephen Atkinson said: “The committee decided to recommend we freeze our share of the council tax in these unprecedented times.

“Many families and individuals are struggling because of the impact of the pandemic and we felt we could not add to their burden.”

Lancashire County Council, whose ‘precept’ makes up most of Ribble Valley households’ council tax bills, has increased its levy by 3.99 per cent and the precept to pay for the police is to rise by £15 a year for a Band D property.