THE LEADER of Wigan Council Lord Smith of Leigh this week claimed ratepayers have one of the lowest council taxes in the region.

Councillors meeting at Wigan town hall have now approved the Metro budget which will see the council tax increased by 8pc.

But Lord Smith said the band D rate for households of £960.52 was lower than in Bolton, Salford, Chorley, West Lancashire and St Helens -- and the third lowest in Greater Manchester.

He added that a record amount of £12 million was being spent on education this year, with an extra £5.5million being found.

An additional £1.5m was being pumped into social services and £1.8m earmarked to meet tough Government recycling targets.

Cllr Smith said he understood the concerns of people about council tax. But he stressed, "If we had only raised the council tax by inflation, as some were saying we should, then we would now be facing cuts of £4 million.

"That would have meant teachers' jobs going, a cut in the cash for school standards and environmental services, closing facilities such as day centres, libraries and pools, and slashing road repairs."

He said he wanted to put the record straight on council tax, pointing out that the actual level of council spending was only going up by 3.5pc -- just over inflation.