LANCASHIRE County Council's typical council tax demand is set to top £900 a year for the first time, new figures have revealed.

But officers at the authority have insisted the figure would have been higher had the Government not promised extra cash after a wave of protests from councils.

A report to be considered by the cabinet tomorrow will recommend a 4.95 per cent council tax rise on the portion of bills set by the county council -- by far the largest chunk.

Police, borough council and fire service precepts will all have to be added to the £940.07 Lancashire County Council is probably going to charge people living in Band D properties.

This figure is the average from which other band figures are calculated.

Last year's Band D figure was £895.73, which rose to £937.62 when demands from Lancashire Fire and Rescue were included. Lancashire Police took £87.57 off Band D properties.

A report to the cabinet, which will recommend a final council tax figure to the full council in February, reveals that householders would have had to find an extra £15 on top of the 4.95 per cent rise had they not received an extra £5.6million in grants from the Government.

Overall, the authority has received £690.55million from Government, a 6.14per cent rise.

While still more than twice the rate of inflation, the council tax rise is just half the level of increase imposed by the Labour-run authority last year, when the public had a 9.46per cent rise from Lancashire County Council.