CRAVEN'S portion of the council tax bill which will be dropping through your letterbox shortly was confirmed at £122.90 for the average property in band D at a full meeting of the district council.

When added to the other two main elements of the council tax bill - from North Yorkshire and the Police Authority - it will mean a basic council tax bill for a band D property of £1,028.

Craven's rise is the equivalent of 15 pence a week and will fund a variety of services in Craven including planning, refuse collection and environmental health.

Local parishes can also add to the final annual total through a precept which varies from £3.53 to £51.45 with the highest in the parish of Kirkby Malhamdale, the second highest in Glusburn and the third highest in Ingleton.

But in Airton the parish council actually makes a contribution of £10.76 towards a band D property.

The council tax bill is being finalised in West Craven. Residents in Barnoldswick and Earby band D homes look set to pay £1,220 before any parish precept is added (see page 12 for full details).

Leader of the council Carl Lis defended Craven's increase. Although Craven had fared well in a complex Government formula for awarding grants, receiving the maximum increase permissable for district councils of 12.5 per cent, Liberal Democrat and Conservative members had taken the view that it was better to spend this money on investing in local services rather than lowering the council tax figure.

Coun Lis said: "It is the view of members on this side of the chamber that our services need increased investment and that to deliver the improvements that our residents, businesses and others seek requires more, not less, to be spent locally for the benefit of the Craven community as a whole."

He said this increase would allow for a number of service improvements with the dog warden service being one of those to benefit.

"In the next year we plan to increase spending on this service by £25,000. This may provide an enhanced dog warden presence across the district or improve the service in some other way. Indeed, it is our intention to set up a working group to decide on the way forward. We will also use Area Forums to seek out public opinion," Coun Lis added.

The council's planning department's enforcement function is also to be strengthened so it has the capacity to take action when there is evidence of breaches of planning regulations.

The council will also employ a dedicated litigation solicitor, which will ensure that across all services including dog fouling, housing benefit fraud, anti-social behaviour or planning enforcement, the council will have the ability to respond and take action where necessary without being constrained by a lack of legal resources.

However, the council's Conservative group proposed keeping the increase in the Craven element of the council tax down to just two per cent.

Coun Knowles-Fitton argued that the healthy grant settlement the council received from the Government allowed the council tax bill to be reduced. He said that staffing levels needed careful scrutiny and that substantial savings could be made in certain service areas, for example, public toilets.

The Liberal Democrats and Independents voted together to defeat the Conservative amendment.