DEVON County Council’s share of council tax will increase by 4.99 per cent for the coming financial year with more cash for adult social care.

County councillors agreed an increase of 2.99 percent for general services with an extra two percent for adult social care.

The annual county council share of council tax for an average Band D home will rise by £85.59 to £1,801.26.

There will be increases in spending of 8.2 percent on adult services and 5.5 percent for children’s services.

Reductions in other departmental spending and increased income mean an overall rise of 5.9 percent in the budget with a total spend of £784.1 million.

Councillors also agreed an extra £4 million for highways and pothole repairs.

There will be an additional £5 million for children’s social care.

And there’ll be an extra £500,000 to support work of district councils and homeless organisations which brings Devon County Council’s homelessness budget up to £1 million.

The extra cash has come from the new, additional council tax being levied on second homes.

The budget was approved by 38 votes with four against and seven abstentions.

Council leader James McInnes sharply criticised the Government’s decision to end the Rural Services Delivery Grant which helps councils with the extra cost of providing services in rural areas.

This had cost Devon over £10 million, he said, with funding switched to more urban areas.

In addition Devon received the lowest financial settlement of all 21 county councils.

Councillor McInnes, who is stepping down at the May elections, said: ‘That means we have got to ask our council taxpayers to contribute more to support our services this year.

‘I don’t want to do this. Household incomes are under enough pressure as it is.

‘But around four fifths of our spending goes on providing help and care for our most vulnerable children and adults and we’ve included a £4 million boost for repairing our roads, fixing potholes and dealing with drainage and I know our residents will be pleased with that.’