Council changes to put pounds 100 on tax

COUNCIL tax payers may face an extra pounds 100 on their bills because of local government reorganisation, Ngaio Crequer writes.

A leaked memorandum from the Department of Environment reveals that ministers want local tax payers to meet the transitional costs - estimated at pounds 1.2bn - of changing the two-tier structure of English county councils into single, all-purpose authorities.

The department is proposing that the costs of redundancies, recruitment of new staff, and installation of computer systems should fall on those who it says will benefit in future.

Cost of reform, page 2