Council tax bills for East Devon households are to rise from April. 

East Devon District Council agreed this week its share should go up by £5 to £166.78, an increase of around three per cent compared with the previous year.

This is the maximum it can charge without a referendum. 

But this will be just seven per cent of the total council tax bill, which is set to rise by £112.49 to £2,348.20 for an average band D property in the district. 

Devon County Council takes the lion’s share of the total, 73 per cent, with the remainder distributed among the district council, the police, the fire service and town and parish councils. 

Some households in the district will not have to pay any council tax, however, after the council extended a reduction scheme. 

This means working-age households on low incomes can continue to get discounts of 25, 55, 80 or 100 per cent until the end of March next year. 

As of October 2023, 4,516 households in the district receive such reductions, of which 2,004 pay no council tax at all.