Council tax bills will land on doormats across Fylde next week.

Fylde's portion of the bill accounts for just nine per cent of the total, with the remainder being collected for Lancashire County Council and the Police and Fire Services.

Contained within the bill is a leaflet, which explains details of how these organisations use resident's money, and the bill itself has details of the amount being collected for each authority.

This year the bill also includes an extra line, which will affect your total council tax bill depending on where you live.

In all areas of the Borough there is a reduction in the "Fylde Borough Council" element of Council Tax, but there will be a related increase in the amount shown as "Open Spaces Maintenance" if you live in Lytham, St Annes or Kirkham; or "Parish Precept" in other areas of the Borough.

Councillor Paul Rigby, cabinet member for finance and efficiency, said: "This method of taxation means that each area of the borough pays for the maintenance of its own parks and open spaces; enabling the upkeep of large parks and gardens such as Lowther Gardens, Promenade Gardens, Ashton Gardens, Kirkham Memorial Gardens and Fairhaven Lake, as well as the verges, floral bedding, hanging baskets and smaller open spaces within the Borough.

"The Fylde's dedicated In Bloom committees, supported by Council staff, have won numerous awards at the local and national In Bloom awards - and our parks and open spaces make the Fylde a great place both to live and to visit so we have made this alteration in charges to ensure they are up kept to the standard residents have come to expect."

Previously the total amount for upkeep of the open spaces was divided across all Fylde residents but Fylde Borough Council only looked after the parks and open spaces in Kirkham, St Annes and Lytham, whilst giving the Parish Councils, who each take care of their own areas, a grant of £270,000 between them to fulfil the maintenance requirements of the parish areas.

This grant has now been removed and each Parish council will make a charge for funding its own upkeep activities on its own facilities - meaning residents pay for the service more directly.

Meanwhile, in Lytham, St Annes and Kirkham the Borough Council makes a special charge for "Open Spaces Maintenance" for the work it carries out on the parks, gardens, playing fields in those areas.