Nottinghamshire County Council's share of council tax to rise by four per cent despite opposition proposals

The move comes despite both major opposition parties tabling amendments attempting to bring the figure down by one per cent as councillors met to approve the authority’s budget.

The decision means residents living in band A homes will pay the authority £42.16 more from April than in the current financial year. For residents in band D homes, this figure is £63.24.

Three-quarters will be used to support longstanding issues in the social care sector, with the remaining one per cent to be used for day-to-day services.

The authority has outlined plans to pump some of its takings from the council tax rise into its plan to repair the county’s roads, with ‘patching gangs’ to double from four to eight to implement last year’s highways review.

This will come from a £15 million pot being given to the transport and environment committee, which will also help to address the authority’s declaration of a ‘climate emergency’ last year.

Both Labour and the Independent Alliance proposed scrapping the standard council tax rise of 1 per cent in favour of using reserves, but the Conservatives said they could not support the suggestion.

Councillor Richard Jackson, council finance committee chairman, said: “We don’t think that is either prudent or sustainable.

“What it actually means is that, over four years, we’d need to find an additional £16m worth of savings and reductions.

“We’re not prepared to do that, we think it would be irresponsible.”

Presenting the budget, he said: “We believe we should do everything we can to mitigate the rising cost of living on residents and have carefully considered the impact when determining this budget.

“In doing so, we’ve had to remain realistic and responsible.”

Amendments

Labour’s amendment also called for £1m to fund a community liaison officer for each district in the county, employed over the next two years to provide ‘advice and support’ to struggling families.

And the group called for £5m to improve wages for adult social care staff and bring hourly rates up to “at least £10 an hour at the earliest opportunity”.

Presenting the amendment, Coun Jim Creamer said it was the “morally right thing to do”.

All proposals were voted down by the Conservatives.

A separate amendment tabled by the Independent Alliance also called for the one per cent tax rise to be reversed and compensated by reserves.

But the group also called for the £15m roads investment to be ‘turbocharged’ by scrapping the planned new £15.7m office building at Top Wighay Farm, near Linby.

Their proposal included doubling the additional road funding by using the Top Wighay savings to spend £2.1m extra in each district, specifically for road repairs.

Both amendments were voted down, while the council tax rise was approved as part of the wider budget by a margin of 34 votes to 26.

It means the average band A property will pay the authority £1,096.06 from April, with band D homes to pay the council £1,644.09.

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