Households across one Greater Manchester borough face yet another huge council tax rise

The increase is more than the typical referendum threshold of 4.99pc with the authority having secured special permission from the Government for the higher rise.

This will mean Trafford’s share of the bill will come in at £1,851 for residents living in Band D homes, up from the current £1,722. Those living in the borough also pay tax to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, as well as a police and fire precept, so the final charge will be higher.

Labour leader of the council Tom Ross said his administration has been ‘forced’ to make this decision due to the difficult financial position the authority finds itself in, adding he knew it would not be a popular one. The draft budget published last month revealed Trafford needed a £20 million loan from Westminster for the 2025/26 financial year to stave off the risk of effective bankruptcy.

This has been blamed partly on the poor financial settlement it received through the Government’s Fair Funding Review, which left it £24m worse off than expected over the next three years. Labour leaders have also pointed the finger at historic council tax freezes in the early 2010s when the Conservatives ran the authority.

The additional 2.5pc increase is expected to bring in around £3.5m for the council this year. This means Trafford is still anticipated to need to borrow around £16.5m to bridge the remaining financial gap. Coun Ross told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the final figures and ways to bring that gap down further are still being worked out, while conversations with the Government around future financial support are “ongoing”.

He added: “[The higher increase is] a difficult decision, I absolutely acknowledge it is something that is difficult for many of our residents as well, I absolutely acknowledge that. The money that comes in from it, though, is there on a recurrent basis, so it helps support future budget gaps.

“So in the longer term, our forecasts for 3 or 5 years, that gap has reduced because we are now looking at, in theory, subject to the council vote, putting in that additional 2.5pc to support the revenue budget.

“It’s a bit like a reverse of the council tax freeze. Where that has cut off our potential revenue, that decision to freeze the council tax over that period has exacerbated our situation, this, difficult as it is, repairs some of that damage.”

While the higher increase bridges some of the gap, it does not fix the position the council finds itself in, however. The LDRS asked Coun Ross what steps his administration was taking to stop the council having to make the same choice again next year.

He said: “I think what would stop it is a better funding formula, a formula that works for Trafford. The government has put in more money for local government, they’ve injected much more money than the previous government.

“However, that hasn’t hit Trafford […] and we need some form of recovery to get us onto a long-term financial footing. That’s still a conversation that we’re having this year [and] I would now expect the government to explore other grant funding that we could look to support our revenue budget and get a solid, sustainable footing.”

When asked if he would rule out a third year of 7.49pc tax rises, Coun Ross said he would “never, ever” be the kind of politician who “boxes” himself into a situation through promises.

The higher rise still needs to be approved by the full council ahead of it being implemented from April. Opposition parties on the authority have come out in opposition to the proposal.

Liberal Democrat leader Shaun Ennis said: “This is a government that promised to reform council funding, yet at every opportunity to do so, they have treated Trafford Council like collateral damage. Rather than deliver the additional funding they have repeatedly promised when in Opposition, Labour Ministers have decided it’s residents who should pay more.”

“Trafford residents should know that this new council tax rise will not be used to improve services. It will be swallowed up immediately to reduce Trafford’s borrowing costs. Services in Trafford are still being cut. The Labour Party is asking us all to pay more into the council but get less out.”

Posting on social media, the Conservative leader of the opposition on the authority Nathan Evans added it was “just terrible” that the additional cost is being passed on to residents. He continued: “When you look around, our roads are beyond repair, our schools are bursting at the seams and there’s been rogue investments all over the borough that have just wasted so much money.

“This is going to be ongoing […] They have failed, wasted so much money for eight years. I don’t know where this is going to end.”

Responding to their criticisms, Coun Ross said his opponents did not know the final budget proposals yet and were not in a “position to assess the impact of this”. He added: “We have had external people come in and look at the way that we deliver our services in Trafford.

“From a local government association’s perspective, they did a peer review this time last year, and came back and saw us in November, and said that we were a well-managed, well-run council delivering our services.”