RESIDENTS of Blaenau Gwent are facing an above-inflation council tax rise of five per cent.

The local authority is due to meet on Thursday afternoon to agree the budget for the next financial year.

The proposed council tax hike - which includes the police authority charge and community council precepts - would mean residents of average Band D houses in the county borough paying an average of £1,156.76 a year.

That would be an average increase of just over £55 on this year's Band D payments of £1,101.29.

If agreed, the increase will come into force at the beginning of the new tax year on April 1. A report to Blaenau Gwent council says the authority will receive £99,881,425 in 2006/07 from central government.

That represents 83.7 per cent of the council's net revenue expenditure - with the other 16.2 per cent being raised from council tax and 0.1 per cent from the authority's general reserves.

The amounts of tax that individual areas of Blaenau Gwent will pay differ because of different charges set by community councils.