An inflation-busting rise in council tax will make poverty in Penparcau worse and hit the most vulnerable people hardest, a councillor has warned.

The council tax rate in Ceredigion for 2019/20 will increase by seven per cent from April after the council approved the plans on Thursday.

A two per cent rise in Dyfed-Powys Police tax and a 15 per cent rise in Aberystwyth town council precept will see an average property in Aberystwyth and Penparcau paying more than another £100 a year – money that some people just don’t have, Penparcau councillor Lloyd Edwards told the Cambrian News.

Cllr Edwards, one of seven councillors to vote against the rise on Thursday, said that people’s situations are being “ignored” when decisions are made, and that the extra money asked of people could “tip them over the edge.”

“A vast number of people in Penparcau are struggling and getting ends to meet is hard for them,” he said.

“By putting up the council tax this much, it puts even more pressure on these residents. The council don’t seem to understand how many people are really struggling.

“In my ward I see people struggling with poverty every day, and I wonder whether Ceredigion councillors walk around their wards to see what poverty is out there before they make these kind of decisions.

“People have told me they are very angry and upset.

“The council have to understand that this will leave people with hardly any money with even less.

“Things are bad for people and we should be helping them, not adding to those worries.”

See this week’s Aberystwyth paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now