Four years of council tax rises in county

Lancashire county council is predicting it will raise its Council Tax by 3.99 per cent each of those years..

The figure was revealed during a four-hour meeting, when controversial cabinet proposals to close more than 100 council buildings were under scrutiny.

Despite planned cuts, the county council had predicted a shortfall in its overall budget of £200m by 2021 – and the mooted rise in council tax would reduce that amount by around £50m.

Deputy leader David Borrow said difficult decisions had to be made this week.

He said: “That amount is needed to get us anywhere near balancing the books.”

But it still means the planned closures look set to go ahead.

Campaigners attended the county hall meeting to hear what councillors had to say about the plans to close libraries.

Tory Coun Vivien Taylor asked what price a library could expect to be sold for and was told no valuations had been made.

Tory councillors – angered they had been given days to analyse 1,000-page reports – failed in a bid to force a delay to the meeting.