THE price tag for services provided by the Forest Council could be going up for the first time in five years.

The council is looking at scrapping the freeze on Council Tax rises in the face of mounting budget pressures.

The Forest of Dean District Council element of Council Tax bills – which is £162.29 for a ‘typical’ Band D property – has not increased since 2010.

As part of the council’s ‘medium term financial strategy’ – which covers the period up to 2020, the authority’s Cabinet is considering a one per cent increase in Council Tax, which equates to a rise of about £1.62 a year.

Council Tax in Gloucestershire has four elements – for services provided by Gloucestershire County Council, Forest of Dean District Council, parish councils and the police.

The overall bill, excluding parish councils, for Band D properties this year was £1,460.42 with £1,090.50 going to the county council and £207.73 for the police as well as the £162.29 to the district council.

The county’s police and crime commissioner, Martin Surl, has announced he intends to ask the public if they would support a tax rise for police services.

The district council’s Cabinet will discuss it’s budget strategy at a meet­ing tomorrow (Thursday).

Councillors will be told the starting point for the 2016-17 financial year is a £464,000 funding gap although ‘significant pro­gress’ has been made with £150,000 in savings already identified.

That would leave £314,000 to find, assuming a one per cent increase in Council Tax and freezes on car and green waste charges.

Leader of the council Cllr Patrick Molyneux (Con, Hewelsfield and Woolaston) told the Review: “We’ve always said in our medium term strategy that keeping Council Tax as low as possible was a tenet.

“Over the last five years we’ve frozen it but that was based on the government bonus for freezing Council Tax.

“We’ve put in a nominal figure of one per cent but we are not wedded to that and we’d like to keep Council Tax as low as possible but that might get trickier going forward but it’s not set in stone yet.

“If we can freeze it we will but we do have huge pressures.

“Some of the initial cuts were quite easy to absorb but we are now getting to the point where cuts are more difficult to absorb.”

The draft budget will be published in December and decisions are being made against a background of continuing cuts in funding.

Since 2010-11 the council’s ‘core’ funding from government has been cut by some £2.6 million from £6.8 million to £4.2 million.

The council is working on the assumption of a cut in government funding of between seven and eight per cent each year until 2019-20.

There is also more emphasis on councils getting money from the New Homes Bonus, and the retained business scheme which makes local authorities more dependent on house-building and economic activity.

The Cabinet is also expected to back a ‘no growth’ strategy for services except where they are required by law, where there is a ‘compelling’ business case or where growth would bring in more income.

The budget will go out for public consultation between December 17 and January 18 where alternative proposals can be made.

The full council will be asked to approve the budget at its meeting on February 26 and bills will be issued to householders by March 18.