Kerrier district council have voted to increase their council tax demand to almost eight and a half per cent following the announcement of their 2004/5 budget.

Kerrier councillors voted on Monday night for an 8.31 per cent increase at the band "D" rate, with the council requiring £4,983,442 to run its affairs over the coming financial year. Councillor Malcolm Moyle, who was one of nine councillors who voted against the increase, said this included £300,000 worth of "additional expenditure," £183,000 into pension reserves for officers and £61,000 for extra regeneration officers. £83,000 of this constituted a grant from central government to be spent on services he said.

Expenditure on lifeguards was cut, he added. "I think for the people of Kerrier it's absolutely monstrous. Think about some of the pensioners and those people on lower incomes. These are the people it affects. "We put forward a proposal for the budget to be lowered to five per cent, but this was lost. There was definitely room to prune further and still not affect services in any way. I think 8.31 per cent is diabolical."

A spokesman for Kerrier said the increase would amount to about 23 pence a week.