A FREEZE in Council Tax for the coming year was approved by West Somerset Council this week - despite a bid by a quarter of the 28-strong authority for an increase.

The Tory-controlled council decided to accept a Government grant of £20,547 - the equivalent of a one per cent increase - to keep the district's share of the levy at the current £137.82 for an average Band D property.

But seven councillors - largely from the opposition but including two Tory members - voted against the move, maintaining the council should increase Council Tax by the maximum 1.99 per cent allowed by the Government before sparking a referendum.

Council leader Cllr Tim Taylor told a meeting of the full council on Wednesday that the freeze would bring Government money into the district, whilst an increase would take around £32,000 out of the pockets of West Somerset residents at a financially challenging time.

He said another reason to accept the grant was that the council was currently working well with the Government, which did not want councils to increase Council Tax.

"We are now pretty well thought of within the Department of Communities and Local Government - it will not harm our case to go along with Government policy," he said.

But Independent Cllr Andrew Hadley said it was not that long ago that West Somerset was considering whether to hold a referendum to see if it could raise its Council Tax because so many of its historic problems stemmed from its failure over many years to increase the levy.

"Let us not forget the lessons of the past and the sacrifices of the present," he said.

Cllr Hadley said a 1.99 per cent increase would mean an average increase of just £2.75 a year.

"It's a small increase and it wouldn't break the bank,"

Cllr Peter Murphy said the council should not accept a freeze purely to "curry favour" with a Government which had failed to award it special funding towards establishing a partnership with Taunton Deane Borough Council to cut costs.

"The poorest are protected from Council Tax increases through relief schemes," he said.

"Any sensible precepting authority does what it can to protect its income streams."

Cllr Karen Mills said accepting the Government grant would demonstrate the council was doing all it could to get itself back on track.

But she warned that if more money was not forthcoming for rural councils in the future, she could not accept any further freezes.

"We can afford to do this for one year but this must be the last year," she said.

But Conservative Paul Grierson said he could not back a freeze.

"I think it is a tragic failure of this council not to support an increase," he said.

Council Tax bills will help support the authority's budget for 2014/15 of just over £5 million.

Cllr Kate Kravis, lead member for resources and central support, told the meeting that savings of just over £78,000 had been identified - largely through a reduction in staff costs - and a further £93,445 would come from reserves to balance the books.

She said the budget for the coming year had been a much simpler process than in previous years: "It has been a calmer period and given us a bit of a breathing space."

Cllr Kravis said it was thanks to some hard decisions previously that the council was able to present a budget which included savings which would not affect the public.

Somerset County Council's share of Council Tax bills will also be frozen for the coming year but both the Avon and Somerset Police Authority and the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service are raising their bills by 1.99 per cent.

Town and parish shares of bills will vary but Council Tax payers will face an average increase overall of 0.43 per cent.