NEXT week councillors from all parties will fill the Council Chamber to discuss the council’s budget for the next financial year. I’m sure it will be a lively debate - it always is.

Finding the best part of £20m in savings each year has almost become the norm for the council. Yet that task is becoming harder and harder and is one that councils up and down the country are continually grappling with.

A survey from the Local Government Information Unit shows that almost every council with social care responsibilities in England intends to increase local taxes, with 94 per cent saying they plan to increase council tax by up to five per cent in April.

The main reason for this is that demand on our services, particularly from the most vulnerable in our communities, has never been greater and it is taking up more of our budget each year.

Last week we were criticised for the way in which council tax has been calculated for this coming financial year. Due to the creation of the four new parish councils, next year marks the transition to a standard charge paid by all households for services provided by the council.

Up until now, all households in the non-parished areas of the town paid a special expenses charge (last year it was £47.05) to the council. This charge covered the services provided by the council in those particular areas, which would be covered by a parish council in the parished areas of Swindon.

As the whole borough will be covered by parish councils from April, all money spent on providing services in non-parished areas will go towards paying for the council’s borough-wide services.

Although the average increase in council tax will be set at 4.99 per cent (the maximum increase allowed by the Government), some residents will see a 7.28 per cent increase, while others will only see a 3.12 per cent increase.

We are faced with a difficult balancing act and we have chosen to standardise council tax bills across all households in the borough in order to help us cope with the extra demand on our adults’ and children’s services.

In addition, we have been forced to introduce proposals that have been controversial.

Our new library strategy and the creation of new parish councils have grabbed the headlines locally, but we are also having to make savings in areas right across the council, including making staff savings of £1.5m, while just a couple of weeks ago we sold our bus company Thamesdown Transport to Go South Coast.

Our critics are using the council tax increase to create political waves. I look forward to hearing how they would balance the budget in such circumstances.