MID Devon District Council has frozen council tax for the fourth year running following a Full Council meeting in Tiverton on Wednesday (February 26).

Next financial year, the average Band D household will pay Mid Devon District Council £182.15, the same as this year.

Commenting on the freeze, Cabinet Member for Finance Councillor Neal Davey said: “This is great news for the people of Mid Devon. I am proud that we have for the fourth year running frozen council tax while maintaining our key frontline services at existing levels.

“The Council’s financial strength has been greatly improved over recent years. We have been making significant efficiency savings – through steady reductions from natural turnover, more flexible working and generating greater income across a number of service areas.

"We are therefore in a much better position than many other councils to deal with the current financial constraints. Our strategy for the future is to continue achieving more efficiency savings, but we know that providing a balanced budget without making some reductions to frontline services in 2015/16 will be a difficult challenge.”

Mid Devon District Council’s formula grant from central government has been reduced by over £2m over the past four years, with a further reduction of £656k scheduled in 2015/16.

The amount Mid Devon residents will be charged will go up, however, since the Mid Devon charge represents only a small proportion of the total council tax bill.