Council tax in Bury will be increased by 4.99 per cent as the local authority battles to find £31m to make up for budget cuts.

At a town hall meeting on Wednesday night confirming the budget for the 2023/24 financial year, the local authority moved to raise the council tax by 2.99 per cent for general council services.

A two per cent levy to be spent exclusively on social care was added too.

Levies added by the Greater Manchester Mayor, police and fire services add a further 0.2 per cent to the total bill.

More than half of the 84,000 houses in Bury fall into the bottom two bands (A and B), so the increase for them equates to £1.37 a week for a Band A house and £1.76 a week for a Band B house.

Council house rents will increase by the government’s cap of seven per cent.

Money raised from this can only be spent on social housing.

Ahead of the meeting, Cllr Richard Gold, cabinet member for finance and communities at the council, said: “We are facing tremendous financial challenges, primarily caused by the high rate of inflation.

“Our energy costs have soared, along with the cost of supplies, while a national shortage of labour means we are having to use expensive outside agencies to provide essential services.

“On top of this, we are having to meet ever increasing demand for services from those most in need; from homeless people to those leaving hospital and requiring care, the cost of which is twice as high as before the pandemic.

“Unfortunately, we are not getting the additional funding we need to meet these demands.

"This comes on top of a decade of austerity which has stripped more than £100m from our budgets.”

But the council is allocating an extra £400,000 to help the borough’s most vulnerable through the cost of living crisis

Cllr Gold added: “Despite these challenges, we will continue to target support towards the most needy and vulnerable in our society – this is what residents have repeatedly told us should be our first priority.

"This is why we funded free school meals during the holidays, school uniform grants, and a range of measures to help Bury people through the cost of living crisis.

“And we’re still investing in services which everyone uses, which is why we’re putting another £10m into improving the condition of our roads.

"These measures are a clear message that we are on the side of our residents during these tough times.”

Extra money has also been set aside for new council tax support (£100,000), community grants (£100,000), to freeze Bury Market rents for an extra year (£87,000) and to extend councillors’ discretionary budgets (£51,000).

A support fund for children in care and care leavers (£50,000) and help for veterans and cadets support fund (£20,000) to help them cope with financial challenges and made worse by the closure of the Drill Hall is also being set up.

Members also agreed to support Bury’s cultural offer with £20,000 for events to build on Bury’s year as GM Town of Culture, and £14,000 to celebrate the upcoming coronation of King Charles III and commemorate the life of Queen Elizabeth II, involving schools across the borough in creative projects.

And, responding to public concerns, they also agreed to spend £125,000 to deal with the backlog in tree maintenance, exacerbated in recent years by Covid, storms and diseases such as Ash Die Back.

Bury Art Museum will also not be closed with members agreed to pursue a strategy of increasing the venue’s income through hosting commercial events.

Council leader, Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, said: “While we need to support our most vulnerable here and now, we are also making great progress on our longer term and ambitious plans to regenerate our borough.

“Plans to regenerate our town centres in Bury, Radcliffe and Prestwich are progressing well and sit alongside the development of town plans for Ramsbottom and Whitefield.

"We’ll have more news on these very shortly. These transformational projects will help to secure the future of our local economy, with local jobs, skills and investment, while improving the environment.

"Working together, we can ensure that our borough remains a great place in which to live, work and study for decades to come.”

In response to the budget announcement, Bury Conservatives leader, Cllr Russell Bernstein criticised the Labour-run council.

He said: "It is vital that that the Conservative group hold the Labour administration to account for their continual inability to deliver savings which each year they promise to do and end up blaming everyone but themselves.

"Each one per cent of council tax is the equivalent of close to £1m so the proposed council tax increase is required as the Labour administration have failed to yet again to deliver what they promised in this financial year.

"One example of the administrations financial incompetence is the duplication of procurement savings which were due to deliver to £1m and as the council papers confirm this is now deemed unachievable so in simple terms one per cent of the council tax raise is to cover this non-delivery.

"Council reserves are at a perilous level and I can't find any encouragement that this is being addressed. The people of Bury deserve better."