A PROPOSED freeze on the amount Skipton Town Council will charge its residents for the coming year has been rejected by councillors.

Instead, the council voted to increase its part of Council Tax by £1.78p from £87.61 to £89.39 per year for the average household - a rise of 15p per month.

Councillors also voted to increase rents at its allotment sites by £5 from the current £75 to £80 per year and to also increase the rent on its grazing land at Greatwood and at Carleton Road.

At Thursday's budget meeting of the full council, Cllr Jonathan Kerr urged a zero per cent increase to shown the council was a caring authority which acknowledged the vast majority of its residents were struggling financially.

"The council will have an increase in income from the New Homes Bonus of something like £16,000. Skipton residents are not getting pay rises, in reality, most wages have remained the same," he said.

"Skipton Town Council has restrained itself, but not as much as other authorities, and I think we need to demonstrate we are living within our means and that we are sympathetic to our residents."

But his proposal failed to get the support of a single other councillor and the council voted to go along with the recommendation of its finance and policy committee  and approve a just under two per cent increase.

Cllr Robert Heseltine said he was pretty sure both Craven District Council and North Yorkshire County Council would increase their parts of the council tax in the next few weeks.

And he pointed out the town council had taken on responsibilities of other authorities, including the public toilets in Coach Street Car Park and the cutting of grass verges.

Cllr John Dawson said he sympathised with Cllr Kerr and that a zero per cent increase had been considered.

He thought it was right for the town council to take on additional responsibilities, but warned against taking on any more.

And Cllr Peter Madeley said although the council was not the same size as Craven District or North Yorkshire, it did have responsibilities to maintain in addition to the supporting of crowd generating events.

Craven District Council, North Yorkshire County Council, North Yorkshire Police Authority and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue are all due to set their precepts in the next few weeks.