A council tax increase was one of the key items on today's agenda at a meeting of Gloucestershire County Council.

A council tax rise of nearly five per cent has already been approved by Cabinet and today (Feb 13) the budget for 2019/20 will go before the entire council.

The meeting will shape council services for the coming year, as the council agrees how it will spend a budget of £428 million. The proposed budget includes:

• £84 million for vulnerable children
• £136 million for adult services (including older people and disabled people)
• £44 million for schools
• £57 million for roads

The budget is up £15 million from the current year, to fund help for the elderly and support for the growing number of children in care.

But with no extra funding from government, the increased budget will need to be funded by council taxpayers. The proposed rise of five per cent equates to £60 a year for an average Band D property, £40 a year for a Band A property and over £100 a year for a Band G property.

But the overall rise will be even more than that, with the district councils and police increasing their element of the council tax. The police want their element to increase by 10 per cent .

The council will also be discussing how it can make savings of £21million over the coming year. These are likely to come from back office functions, rather than frontline services. The county council has already made cuts of £160 million since 2011.

Today's meeting was expected to be a long one, as opposition councillors propose their own changes to the budget.

It became even more eventful than expected, however, when protesters stormed the building just before we published this story.

Read more: Protestors storm council meeting