A four per cent council tax increase in Ceredigion would mean the council not having to make any further cuts, the council’s leader has said.

Leader Ellen ap Gwynn admitted that the council had received a much better funding settlement than expected from the Welsh Government - a funding increase of 4.2 per cent - but she said a council ‘budget challenge’ had suggested that there was significant support for a council tax increase of four per cent or more, just a year after an increase of seven per cent.

The final decision on the level of council tax increase will be made by the full council, but Cllr ap Gwynn said the Cabinet would be recommending a four per cent rise, despite saying the funding settlement was “good news”.

She said: “It’s good news. It’s the first time since I’ve been leader where we’ve had an increase in funding.

“This is of course welcomed with open arms.

“It does mean we’ll have more funding to distribute, but it does not mean we can take our foot off the accelerator as we haven’t heard from London how they see the future funding for local authorities.

“It has made the work setting a budget this year slightly easier for our staff.

“A four per cent increase means we have a bottom line which means we won’t have to make any further cuts.

“It does mean we will be able to provide an uplift of 2.2 per cent for all departments across the board.”

See this week’s south editions for the full story, in shops and online Wednesday