Local residents face Tory tax hike

Conservative-run Hampshire County Council has set out plans to hike Council Tax by almost 5% while slashing local services.

The Conservative-run Council's Balancing the Budget consultation over the summer proposed deep cuts to vital local services across the county.

Options that the Conservative Council consulted on to plug its estimated £80m black hole include:

• CLOSING libraries
• TURNING OFF street lights
• REDUCING the number of roads gritted in winter
• SLASHING domiciliary care for vulnerable people
• CHARGING for non-household wood waste (fence panels etc)

But despite the savage cuts to local services, the Conservative Council is still planning on the basis of HIKING Council Tax by 4.99% - the maximum allowed by law without holding a local referendum.

And here in Aldershot and Farnborough, Rushmoor Borough Council has also been raising Council Tax year on year while cutting local services - for example in closing Farnborough Community Centre.

Other Conservative cuts in recent years have included local bus routes in the borough and Sure Start centres for children across Hampshire.

Alan Hilliar, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Aldershot, has slammed the Conservative cuts:

"These Conservative cuts are going to hit some of the most vulnerable people in our society. It is absolutely appalling that year on year Council Tax increases under the Conservatives but services get cut.

"The Conservative Government has slashed the money they make available for our Councils to provide vital services and it is local people who are left to pick up the pieces."