The council is set to take a step forward to raising council tax as part of proposals to raise funds amid a predicted £5 million budget gap for the end of the next financial year.

Members of the cabinet for Westmorland and Furness Council are set to approve a consultation on proposals to raise council tax by 2.99 per cent for the 2024/25 financial year as well as approving a consultation on the introduction of the second homes 100 per cent premium.

Other proposals include approving consultation on the proposal to charge a 100 per cent empty homes property premium on homes that are empty after one year and for homes that are empty after 10 years increase the premium to 400 per cent.

A council report states: “Given the uncertainty of potential additional funding for local government and the need for further analysis and understanding of the council’s new budget, further work is ongoing and final proposals to deliver a balanced budget will be presented in February.”

According to the report local governments across the country are currently experiencing ‘unprecedented times’ which is placing ‘significant pressure’ on the financial resilience of councils nationally.

The report adds: “The planned reform to Local Government funding, already much delayed, has been put in abeyance. It is not clear what direction funding reform will follow, the timing of that reform nor the financial implications arising.

“A General Election in 2024 will inevitably impact how the agenda of reform to Local Government funding will proceed but for budget modelling purposes it has been assumed that the direction being taken through the one-year settlement announcements will continue.”

The report states £8.83 million of additional funding has been identified through the business rates income inflationary uplift, inflationary uplifts on grants and revenue support grants, the empty homes premium and the proposed council tax increase including the council tax reduction scheme.

Cabinet member for finance, councillor Andrew Jarvis (Windermere and Ambleside, Lib Dems), previously gave an update at a council meeting on Thursday (November 23) to ‘reassure’ members of the authority’s financial health in light of ‘a lot of comment in the press about the financial sustainability of local government’.

He told members he believed ‘we are in a much more secure position than many authorities’ however he urged caution and said ‘there are many potential risks and pressures’.

Members of the cabinet for Westmorland and Furness Council are set to approve consultation on plans to raise council tax when they meet on Tuesday (December 12) at South Lakeland House.