WEST Sussex County Council agreed a council tax increase of 3.95 per cent at its final budget meeting at County Hall, Chichester, last Friday.

The county council agreed 1.95 per cent plus an additional two per cent to fund adult social care, providing an equivalent of an extra 92 pence per week for the average band D household.

There were measures to close a budget deficit of £41.6million – including £16.8million in savings across a number of services, and the use of £9.4million of reserves.

Jeremy Hunt, councillor for finance, said: “The demand on our services is increasingly going up, but unfortunately the money we are receiving from central government is going down.

“Increases in council tax are now built into the government’s expectation of how services are funded so as well as our continuing drive for efficiencies, savings, and new ways of working, we had little choice but to increase council tax in order to protect frontline services.

“But we have kept the increase as low as possible for our residents and I believe this budget provides excellent value for money.”