Wokingham Borough Council is due to increase its part of the levy by 1.9% from April, meaning residents in a typical Band D property will pay to £1,246.21 - an additional 46 pence a week The authority's share comprises the majority of residents' council tax, with much smaller precepts from the police, fire service and parish councils making up the remainder of the total bill.

It increased tax last year by 1.94%, or 45 pence a week, having been frozen for the two years before that.

Wokingham Borough Council is due to rubber-stamp the 1.9% rise as part of its 2014-15 budget at a meeting on Thursday, February 20.

Its leader, Cllr David Lee, identified traffic, roads and flooding issues as areas where money needed to be spent and says front-line services would be protected.

He said: “Some of our neighbours are supporting a 0% increase but we are increasing by 1.9% here because keeping the council tax down is not the right thing to do.” Cllr Lee says the council is the lowest-funded unitary authority in the country, receiving just 24% of its funding from central government - meaning it relies on council tax for 76%.