AN INCREASE in Council Tax is being ‘frittered away’ on ‘subsidies’ such as discounts to those on low incomes, say the Conservative group on the Forest Council.

There has been a “complete disregard” for taxpayers said leader of the Tory group, Cllr Brian Robinson (Mitcheldean).

During the debate on the council’s 2019/20 Budget, the Conservatives also pointed to losses in areas such as car parks, cemetery charges and not imposing higher rates of tax on empty properties.

But the ruling ‘rainbow’ coalition defended its record and claimed the criticisms heralded the return of the Tories as the ‘nasty party’.

The Budget was passed, meaning there will be an increase in the district element of Council Tax of 2.99 per cent or £5.20 a year.

The Budget was backed by the Labour group with leader Cllr Di Martin (Cinderford East) saying the council faced “a very difficult situation” because of changes to the way local government is financed.

Cllr Robinson said: “After 18 months in charge what we have witnessed is a complete dereliction of duty by the leader and Cabinet .

“Service cuts, a leisure centre closed and a complete disregard for the taxpayer.

“They are happy to run a deficit on car parks, cemetery charges and land registry fees to the tune of £100,000 a year and use residents’ Council Tax to pay the subsidy .

“They are happy to continue handing out discounts on Council Tax amounting to £200,000 a year – even though government funding has been removed – using Council Tax from residents to pay the subsidy.

“They have failed to apply a higher change on homes left empty – if they did they could raise £200,000 and encourage owners to bring empty homes back into use.

“These are just three areas that could improve the council’s finances by £500,000.

“The truth is all the money being raised by Council Tax is being frittered away by subsidising others.”

Tidenham member Gethyn Davies, who is a ‘Conservative, no group’ councillor said he would be expected to pay for the support scheme from his 25p a week pension increase.

“Why should we support people who are already getting subsidies off the government?”

The Conservatives also accused the administration of ‘ripping the heart out’ of the council’s reserves.

The Cabinet member for finance, Cllr Roger James (Forest Alliance, Coleford East) said the Council Tax support scheme ensured the most vulnerable “were not impacted upon.”

But he did concede that the viability of the scheme would have to be looked at again next year.

Cllr Sid Phelps (Green, Lybrook and Ruardean) said he was “almost incandescent” at the Tories’ criticisms.

He said: “I thought the nasty party had gone away – people who do not want to support this should sit in a corner and count their money.”

The debate showed that “battle lines have been drawn” for the district council election in May, said Independent Cllr Philip Burford (Hartpury).

The council agreed the budget of £10,497,500 which includes savings and additional income of £663,000.

Cllr James said: “Our budget has now been set for the next financial year and we are confident it will provide the resilience needed for the council to continue to support the local community.

“We’ve frozen car parking charges and not made any reductions to our front-line services or Council Tax support scheme.”