In line with the majority of other district and borough councils in Hertfordshire and England, the North Herts Council portion of council tax will rise by 2.99%.

This means the North Herts element of the council tax bill for a band D property will increase by £7.55, from £252.46 to £260.01.

Council tax bills will be issued to households in March, and include details of how money is allocated between North Herts Council (which gets just under 12%), Hertfordshire County Council, (76.7%), Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner (11.4%) and any parish or town councils in your area.

Pie chart showing how council tax is divided - 11.9% to North Herts, 11.4% to police and 76.7% to Herts County

North Herts Council explain that your council tax enables North Herts Council to:

collect recycling and waste from over 58,000 households

clean over 400 miles of streets

maintain 100 hectares of parks and greenspaces

run Letchworth, Hitchin and Royston leisure centres

maintain Letchworth and Hitchin outdoor pools and four splash parks in the district

provide housing advice and homelessness support, including temporary accommodation needs.

The budget for the next financial year, April 2024 to March 2025, was approved by councillors at their Full Council meeting on Thursday (February 29).

Respected councillor Ian Albert, Executive Member for Finance, said: "We're using around £1.7million of reserves to achieve a balanced budget in 2024/25, which is coming from previous business rate gains.

"We take a prudent approach where we don't budget for in-year business rate gains, but release them, as they are needed, after they have been achieved.

"While we are pleased to be in the position where we can continue to deliver key services and invest in our district, these reserves are not endless, and the government urgently needs to address the growing financial crisis facing councils and come up with a long-term plan to sufficiently fund local services through multi-year settlements."