Cotswold home owners will see their council tax payments rise after councillors agreed a two per cent increase.

The increase in the local authority's share equates to less than £3 per year for the average band D house - a rise of 5p per week.

Council leader Councillor Tony Berry said that the increase comes as the authority battles against a real-term cut in central funding of around 50 per cent against a 2010 baseline.

Cllr Berry said: "After so many years of cutting or freezing the council tax bill for local residents, we have decided that there is a valid case to introduce a 2 per cent rise this year, ensuring that we can maintain our services to the required standards.

"This actually represents an annual increase of less than £3 for the average Band D taxpayer.

"I hope that residents will understand why we had to agree this measure against a backdrop of changes to government funding which indicate we will have to make even more savings than we originally anticipated over the next three or four years.

"Despite increasing our share of the council tax bill, we will still have to dip into our reserves to deliver our full range of services.

"Apparently, over 97 per cent of local authorities are increasing their council tax this year which shows that nearly all councils are facing similar challenges."

The council has also agreed on a freeze to parking charges at all CDC-owned car parks and are to abolish Sunday parking charges at the Brewery car park in Cirencester in April.

The 'free after 3pm' parking scheme will be extended until March 2020 at selected car parks in Bourton-on-the-Water, Cirencester, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold and Tetbury.

CDC had already announced plans

Cllr Berry added:"On the plus side, we have frozen parking charges again and I know that many motorists will be pleased to know that we are continuing our 'free after 3 pm' scheme in several car parks across the District, including the Brewery and Forum car parks in Cirencester.

"Our plans also include investment in a multi-storey car park in Cirencester and temporary decked car parking to replace parking spaces while construction of the multi-storey car park takes place.

"Everyone working on behalf of the Council is always trying to keep our costs down, and I am extremely grateful for their efforts as they continue to find savings and efficiencies without any detriment to our services.

"These people are key to ensuring that we can continue to provide excellent value for money."