Power price hikes have been blamed for fuelling a 17pc rise in the town council tax demand at Aylsham.Electricity and gas suppliers have just announced major rises in charges for the coming year, and these will affect bills for the town hall, toilets, recreation ground and street lights.

Power price hikes have been blamed for fuelling a 17pc rise in the town council tax demand at Aylsham.

Electricity and gas suppliers have just announced major rises in charges for the coming year, and these will affect bills for the town hall, toilets, recreation ground and street lights.

Councillors agreed a £217,845 precept, to make up the town element of the total council tax bill this year. It is 17.3pc higher than last year's £185,000.

Town council chairman Liz Jones confirmed that power bills were a factor and said the budget had been reviewed three times to see if anything could be cut out.

She added: “It is a heck of a lot of money, but for what we are providing for the community over 12 months it is a reasonable figure - about £1 a week per elector.”

However, Mike Bush said the power costs only added 0.1pc to the budget and the figure had doubled over the past five years, which was startling - costing the average Band D householder another £13. And Ian Graham pointed out that county councillors were looking to make major cuts in adult social services to keep their rise below 5pc.

Clerk Maureen Anderson-Dungar said after the meeting that the main part of the budget was £122,500 for administration, with street lighting at £37,000 and the town hall at £30,000 among the other major spending. She too felt the council provided a good range of services for the money, ranging from markets and toilets to the recreation ground and cemetery.