County agrees tax rise of 2 per cent

Denbighshire County Council says it is protecting frontline services and investing in priorities while keeping council tax increases in the county as low as possible at 2%.

The council has now agreed the budget against a backdrop of what it says are poorer than expected financial settlement.

Capital funding has been cut by 15% to £4.9 million. This is a significant loss on top of the 27% already cut over the past two years.

The council has identified over £3 million in further savings over the next year while investing in education and social services.

The council has also decided to further invest £1m extra funding in its Corporate Plan priorities over the next year - modernising education, highways, the economy, modernising the Council and social care.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Assets, said: "We have created a budget that protects education and social care and we have increased funding to these areas to the tune of £2.1m.

"We have already cut around £14 million from budgets over the years and we are proud of the fact that we have been able to protect frontline services.

"While the outlook for public finances is poor, it is extremely important that we provide residents with below inflation tax rises in these difficult times."

Mohammed Mehmet, Chief Executive of Denbighshire, said: "As a council we want to protect those services that are important to people and this budget achieves this while keeping the council tax increase as low as possible and making £3m efficiencies.

"The council has a strong track record of delivering savings by finding better ways of doing things. We are reducing the amount of days loss to sickness; we are scrutinising our contracts to ensure better value for money and we are being more competitive in the way in which we buy in services."