RESIDENTS look set to see their council tax bills increase for 2018/19.

Hampshire County councillor Edward Heron said, during a meeting of Fordingbridge Town Council last week, that the county council’s cabinet had met to agree a recommendation on its share of the council tax. The proposals being put forward would see an increase of nearly six per cent - the maximum allowed. The county council’s proposed increase of its share of the council tax would see band D households paying an extra £67.86 in 2018/19.

The budget is due to be finalised by Hampshire County Council next week.

The meeting also heard proposals for cuts to funding for school crossing patrols, changes to household waste recycling centres and reductions in community transport were “not going forward” as part of the 2019/2020 savings programme.

Cllr Heron said the main pressure on the county council’s budget were adult social care and children’s services. Three per cent of the county council’s budget would be ringfenced for adult social care.

He said he was “optimistic” going forward in terms of children’s services, adding: “We are modernising our processes and finding new ways of delivering protection in a way that is as effective, and sometimes better for those families and children, and actually, if brought in, there are savings that can be made there.

“The adult social care is the bit that worries me because we are living longer and we are expecting more – that is not going to go away.”

He said the way the council delivers services was changing and it was working more with towns and parishes.

Cllr Heron warned of the need for residents to use universal services provided by the county council or risk losing them in the future. He said services that are “not used to a reasonable extent will not survive in their current form” in the future.

He added: “If you value them, regardless of the fact they may have escaped changes this time, for goodness sake use them. There is no way things that are not used will continue to survive going forward.”

The county council has to find savings of £140m.

The annual amount levied by New Forest District Council is also set to rise from April. Members are meeting on February 26 to set the council’s budget for 2018/19.

Under proposals due to be put to the meeting the average band D council tax payer will be charged £168.36 - an increase of £5, or just over three per cent, on the current figure.

Most of the council tax collected in Hampshire goes to the county council, with smaller amounts funding town and parish councils, Hampshire Police and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority.

Hampshire’s police and crime commissioner, Michael Lane, is seeking an additional £12 a year from every band D family for the police authority.