£7 tax rise proposed

This will mean roughly an extra 7 a year for a Band D council tax payer.

Councillors were faced with the need to make sensible provisions for the land and buildings they have taken over from the District Council in recent years, and to restore their reserves after a year in which they had to meet several unusual extra costs.

Chairman of the council's finance committee, Jim Daly, said: 'We recognise that next year's precept will be a bigger increase than in recent years, but feel certain that the people of Lewes will understand that we must make prudent allowances for not only the continued "good health" of land and buildings, but also restore and maintain adequate financial reserves.

'Our overall spending is actually predicted to go down in 2003, but we have to overcome a legacy from the past few years when increases were very modest which left us "tight" when big bills arose unexpectedly, and make sure we have enough to steadily build-up funds for the future.

'We hope that we can develop areas such as the Priory, the Pells; and the All Saints Centre, working with local people to re-establish these as features the town can be proud of.'