Sidmouth Town Council is set to ask residents to increase their annual payment for its services by more than nine per cent.

Under the proposals, the average band D property will pay the authority £69.54, up from £63.70 in 2017/18, which will give it a precept of £488,467. Residents’ overall council tax bills are also made up of payments to the district and county councils and other authorities.

The town council’s proposed allocations include:

n Another £5,000 for the information centre, taking the allocation to £26,600;

n An additional £5,000 for the Manstone Lane youth centre, taking the money set aside to £18,000, and for the adjacent sports area it will double to £40,000;

n A new £8,000 allocation for grass verge cutting and £1,500 for additional weeding of the main roads, plus £3,000 for Sidmouth in Bloom;

n And quadrupling the budget for tourism promotion to £8,000.

Town councillors will debate the proposed budget when they meet on Monday (January 22).