Council tax is set to slightly rise after next year's budget was agreed by Andover Town Council.

Councillors discussed the proposals to set the town council precept at a full council meeting, held at the Guildhall on Wednesday, January 24.

Cllr Steven Hardstaff explained the four proposals on offer to the town council, titled options A to option D, based on a varying scale from a minor increase, to a significant increase in the precept.

The option proposed to the council was option B, meaning a 7.94 per cent increase on the existing precept. This would mean a 15p increase per month and a £1.82 increase within a year.

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Cllr Hardstaff said: "There were four options considered by the P&R (policy & resources) committee. Option A means keeping the precept the same with a very marginal increase.

"Option B would protect the reserves by having a slight increase, whereas Option C would raise funds to renew the fencing around our allotment sites, which are in need of being replaced anyway. 

"Option D would allow us to raise even more and with that we could replace the fencing at the allotment sites and also raise extra money for the water networks at our sites to be replaced potentially, as we are currently doing at The Drove allotment site.

Cllr Bird said: "We are told time and time again by the public that we should be getting more involved in things and doing things positively, but to do that we need to have funds.

"Because we are a council, it is a political thing so people will play politics, and if we put it up to option D, we will be told we increased the precept by 63 per cent, and the response is that every household will effectively be paying a pound more.

We're not asking for the same increase as the borough council or the county council, for this town council to do more and be more."

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Cllr Stu Waue said: "Personally I find it hard to justify an increase in the precept. Us as a council now have a reputation for being a bit shaky, and historically a reputation for not doing much. I would go for Option A until we can prove that we are worth more as a council."

Cllr Thomas Gregory said: "If councillors don't think we are doing enough, then I don't think the solution is to decrease our overall budget. I think we do need to increase in line to protect our reserves.

"I do agree that anything like a double percentage increase is probably not going to go down well outside of this room so therefore I am likely to support Option B."

Cllr Robin Hughes said: "We actually have enough money in our reserves to do the work at the allotments without asking our community for more money. I do not see any reason why we need to when we already have the money there."

Eight councillors voted in favour of option B, with five voting against the proposal, and one abstention.