COUNCILLORS in West Devon have agreed to go ahead with a council tax rise of 2.1 per cent — or £5 a year for an average Band D property ­— to fund its services for the year ahead.

The budget for the coming 2020/21 year starting on April was approved by West Devon Borough Council’s hub committee on Tuesday. It now goes to a meeting of the full council on February 18 for final approval.

The council has raised its portion of the council tax as much as it can legally without having to consult taxpayers in a referendum.

It includes some spending plans after four years of cost cutting as central government funding of the local authority has been phased out completely. These include funding an economy officer at a cost of £50,000 split with South Hams District Council whose job will be to apply for outside funding for council projects.

Chief executive Sophie Hosking told councillors that the post aimed to bring in the cost of the salary in the first year and double that in the second. There will also be a new position of a climate change officer, to drive efforts to cut the council’s efforts in cutting its carbon footprint.

However, Cllr Ric Cheadle asked fellow hub members if a PR campaign might be necessary to sell the council tax hike to the public — particularly with a trial of three week black bag collections starting next month for 1,000 households in Tavistock, Okehampton and Bridestowe.

‘Given that we have put the council tax up as much as it is humanly possible and they are collecting the rubbish less frequently, the picture we are giving members of the public might not be the one we want them to have,’ he said.

Council leader Neil Jory defended the budget, saying: ‘We have done a lot of hard work on the budget over the last four years and I think this is the first time since I have been on the council where there are some elements of putting things back in — the economy officer is part of that and the climate change officer. I think what we have is a pretty lean dynamic organisation that is looking to engage with residents in the area.’