TORIES at Hyndburn Council look set to keep their promise to taxpayers - by freezing the borough's share of the council tax charge.

But when the bills from county hall and Lancashire Police are added, householders look set to pay 4.8 per cent more than last year - taking the Band A charge to £656 per house.

Hyndburn Council's budget committee meets tomorrow night to discuss proposals to keep Hyndburn's chunk of the tax bill at £101 for Band A households, which account for 61 per cent of the borough's homes.

The council aims to keep a lid on its spending by restructuring council departments, axing directors' posts and dipping into its cash reserves.

Spending plans for the coming year include setting up area councils, increasing cash for street cleaning and turning council-run regenerationship group the Hyndburn Partnership into a private company.

Lancashire County Council - whose service charge makes up most of the council tax - has announced a provisional rise of 5.5 per cent. And Lancashire Police have already increased their share of the bill by 8.5 per cent.

Conservative council leader Peter Britcliffe has repeatedly promised his party would not put council tax up. And the Tories have thrown down the gauntlet to their Labour rivals by unveiling their budget early - giving Labour a fortnight to come up with something better.

In previous years, Labour administrations at Hyndburn have announced their budget at full council meetings, prompting complaints from opposition parties that they have had no time to come up with alternative schemes.

Council tax figures for Hyndburn 2000/2001

(subject to confirmation by Lancashire County Council and Hyndburn Council): Band A £656.65; Band B £766.10; Band C £875.53; Band D £984.98; Band E £1,203.86; Band F £1,422.75; Band G £1,641.63; Band H £1,969.96.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.