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PRIVACY
Economic Development

Review of 2017 - December: Council tax rise, Commonwealth Games and 42-storey apartment tower

Our Review of the Year ends with the news in December that council tax in Birmingham was set to add £70 to the average family bill and track cycling at the 2022 Commonwealth Games would be taking place in London

Council tax will rise by almost five per cent next year, it was announced in December

Birmingham's council tax is set to rocket by almost five per cent next year - adding almost £70-a-year to the bill for the average family home.

The inflation-busting increase will add £71.90 to a band D property in the city, up from the current bill of £1,438.

The rise, far more than the 3.1 per cent inflation rate also revealed in December, is the most allowed without a referendum.

The council's 2018/19 budget also included a £54 million cuts package - including £14 million of new savings.

The fresh cuts will mainly fall on social care services which will see £3.5 million reduction.

As the dust settled this month on the news that Birmingham was officially more details started to emerge.

It was revealed the track cycling would in fact be taking place 130 miles away at the Lee Valley Velopark, in London.

With no suitable venue in the West Midlands, organisers of the games found that a Birmingham velodrome would be too expensive and too difficult to build from scratch in the short, four-year time frame.