AN almost ten per cent rise in the average home’s council tax will be faced by Bradford on Avon residents in 2016, following Monday’s town council budget meeting.

The existing precept of £417,854 will increase by around £40,000 after March 31, approximately equivalent to an extra 20p annually, according to the council.

The council received a blow after losing its support grant of more than £12,000 from Wiltshire Council, in common with other town and parish councils, as the grant ends completely in 2016 as part of Wiltshire Council’s cost-cutting measures.

After the meeting Mayor Alison Craddock said: “We got the rise from 15 per cent to less than 10 and for the projects we are embarking on, such as the tourist information centre, maintaining Westbury Gardens and investing in the youth and community centre, to name a few, I think it is justified.

“As Wiltshire Council makes cuts it is inevitable that there is a slight rise and difficult decisions were made but it is in the town’s interests and this tourism initiative is an excellent one. This is a scheme we have been focusing on for quite some time now and it is going in the right direction.

“These are huge commitments and are extremely important to Bradford on Avon going forward. We are having to take on a lot of things and steps like these sometimes have to be made.”

In 2016 the council is planning to spend far more money on providing new equipment at St Margaret’s Hall, maintaining Victory Field and providing planning, highways and transport services.

“By recalculating some of the finances we have made significant savings. We have had to deal with a reduction of subsidies from Wiltshire Council from £15,000 to under £3,000 and we’ve had to make up for that shortfall,” said Councillor Laurie Brown.

“This is ensuring that important services are sustained and can endure."

Wiltshire Council want them to close and we want to improve and ensure they remain open.

“Ongoing projects such as our tourism effort is a worthwhile and positive one and can be a great asset to the town.”

Band D properties, currently paying £110.90 a year, or £2.13 a week, as part of their annual tax bill, will be paying £118.89, or £2.29 a week, from April.

Fellow councillor Gwen Allison said: “We know it is difficult but we are looking to the future. We won’t get the allowance we normally get and I hope people appreciate it is a difficult situation and we want what is best for the town.”

The year before there was an increase of 11.75 per cent.