A FINAL decision on plans to increase council tax by 3.95 per cent in Torfaen will be decided by full council in March.

Torfaen council’s cabinet agreed to recommend that full council approve the council tax increase and budget proposals for 2021/22 in March.

The proposed council tax increase would mean residents in a band D property would pay an extra £54.01 per year - or £1.04 a week.

A funding increase for schools has also been proposed, which would fund £2.88 million of pressures.

An additional investment of £859,000 is also proposed to help meet a spike in demand in children’s services.

READ MORE:

The provisional Welsh Government settlement, which provides councils with funding, has proposed giving the council a 4.3 per cent increase in funding.

The executive member for resources, Cllr Kelly Preston, told the cabinet that this “meant we had a little bit of headroom for consideration”.

Final proposals include a £53,000 canal officer post, which Cllr Preston said was popular among members.

An additional £52,000 has also been allocated to the council’s discretionary housing payment scheme, to help “the most vulnerable” in light of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The final budget will now be presented to full council for approval on March 4.