Malvern Hills District Council and West Mercial Police Authority are both freezing their council tax demands for the coming financial year.

The government has told authorities which do this that they can expect a council tax freeze grant. In MHDC’s case this should be worth about £100,000.

Members of MHDC’s executive committee approved the freeze, along with revenue and capital budgets for 2011/12, when they met on Tuesday evening (February 15).

This means MHDC’s band D council tax demand will remain unchanged at £132.33 - currently the 30th lowest out of the 204 district councils in England.

Also on Tuesday, West Mercia Police Authority agreed a budget requirement of £205.6 million for 2011/12 and, in line with government wishes, agreed not to increase its precept.

This means the police precept on a Band D household will be £178.72, the same as last year.

Chairman Sheila Blagg said: “We set the budget for the best possible level of service in the context of the assessment of the financial situation over the next four years. Using some of our reserves means that we can achieve a more measured downsizing, so the impact on policing services in 2011/12 will be minimised by comparison with many other forces.”

Malvern Town Council's precept on the council tax will be slightly lower than anticipated, members heard this week.

Town clerk Richard Chapman told councillors that the figure for a Band D household will be £50.45, 38 pence lower than expected.

He explained this was because the latest figures for housing in the parish, newly provided by Malvern Hills District Council, showed 200 more homes, thanks to development, thus spreading the tax load more widely.