HOUSEHOLDS face an inflation-busting 3.7 per cent hike to council tax in April.

Waverley council chiefs signed off the first increase to the borough’s share of the ratepayer’s bill in six years “to protect services and improve the borough’s amenities”.

Its executive committee agreed to recommend a 1.95 per cent increase in council tax – just below the maximum two per cent hike allowed by Whitehall..

If agreed at the next council meeting on Tuesday, February 16, the 1.95 per cent rise would represent a £3.16 increase to the annual tax bill for an average Band D home in Haslemere, taking Waverley’s share of council tax to £165.06 per annum.

But with the overall bill split between the borough (10 per cent), Surrey County Council (74 per cent), the police (13 per cent) and town/parish councils (three per cent), Waverley’s increase adds to the:–

•17.9 per cent increase (£5.34 p.a. agreed by Haslemere Town Council

•1.99 per cent rise (£4.30 p.a. proposed by Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner,

•3.9 per cent hike (£47.57 p.a. expected to be passsed by Surrey County Council.

The average Haslemere household can expect a £60.37 increase to its annual bill for 2016/17, taking the total to £1,687.69.

This could yet increase further however, after WBC’s executive agreed to recommend an extra £5 increase subject to permission from the Government.