A LAST-DITCH attempt to reduce a 12.5 per cent rise in council tax for the Sedgefield borough to less than one per cent has failed.

Liberal Democrat members on Sedgefield Borough Council urged fellow councillors to reconsider the authority's share of the tax rise to make life easier for residents.

Councillors Ben Ord and Garry Huntington, the Liberal Democrat party members on the council, tabled an amendment, which they said could reduce the rise to 0.8 per cent.

They argued a reduction in the amount of tax needed, totalling £413,410, could be made by scrapping the borough's community task force, Inform newsletter and town- twinning scheme.

But the ruling Labour group defeated the move and agreed a 12.5 per cent rise.

The move came at a meeting of the council which had been arranged to confirm the overall council tax rise of 13.1 per cent on Band D homes, which includes charges by the borough, parish and county councils and Durham Police Authority.

Coun Ord said: "The end product is that there is a lot of people getting aggravated by these above-inflation council tax rises.

"A lot of people come to me and tell me they are not getting any increase in wages at all."

He said the council should cut its cloth to meet the needs of those people.

His Liberal Democrat colleague, Coun Huntington, said: "As far as I'm concerned, I believe it is totally wrong to inflict this kind of rise on individual council tax payers."

Council leader Councillor Brian Stephens rejected suggestions that the Community Force should be disbanded.

He said: "We were the first in the country to bring in the Community Force, because of a clear concern by the public about community safety and anti-social behaviour.

"Not only that, but the Government is now putting money into similar schemes, such as Neighbourhood Wardens.

"The Government has followed the pattern used by Sedgefield largely to style their own proposals."

On scrapping Inform, he said: "This is the magazine in which we take a pride in informing the public. That's all part of best value."

Coun Stephens also pointed out that if the council had not identified savings of £700,000, the tax increase would have been 32 per cent.