COUNCIL taxpayers in East Cleveland are facing an increase that is more than double the rate of inflation.

The total bill for council, police, fire and parish and town councils is set to rise by an average of 7.1 per cent.

This will mean a rise of between £1.04 and £1.39 a week for five out of six properties in the Redcar and Cleveland area.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is increasing its portion of the bill by 5.9pc. Cabinet members say that an equal pay deal, which is costing them £1.8m, accounts for 4.4pc of the 5.9pc increase.

The council was the first local authority in the region to sign the national pay deal for all staff.

In a letter to every council taxpayer circulated with the new bills, the council cabinet's ten members regret the rise, but state: "The biggest time bomb left for us to defuse when we took over, was the nationally-agreed pay review for staff. Although we knew it was bound to be very expensive, we had no option, legally or morally, but to tackle this issue. In fact, the longer we delayed, the bigger the bill was bound to be."

Cleveland Police is putting its levy up by 13.8 pc, which accounts for £136 of a Band D property's bill. Cleveland Fire Authority, which levied a separate bill for the first time this year, will cost a Band D property £48.74 a year.

Just before the cabinet met yesterday, a delegation led by Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, handed members a petition with 4,000 signatories protesting against the closure of Guisborough swimming pool.

Plans to close the pool as a budgetary measure were withdrawn as were plans to charge for parking in Westgate, Guisborough.

The introduction of charges for residents' parking and the charging of senior citizens for half price to use the Cliff Lift at Saltburn were also withdrawn.

Coun Steve Kay told the cabinet: "It is very important that we separate ourselves from the police, fire and parish and town councils when it comes to the billing process. Otherwise we are in danger of being blamed for their extravagances."

Coun Glyn Nightingale said: "This is the first of the coalition's four budgets. We are trying to turn this authority into a council that puts services first and foremost before anything else."

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has said that council tax increases should be less than five per cent and said that he would use capping powers if it proved necessary.

In the next financial year Band D taxpayers in the following areas will pay: Guisborough £1,218.63 (up 7.27pc); Saltburn, Marske and New Marske £1,222 (up 6.87pc); Lockwood £1,233 (up 7.16pc); Skelton and Brotton £1,233 (up 7.66pc); Loftus £1,236.42 (up 6.92pc).