Bollington Town Council is increasing its part of the council tax by about £40 a year to keep parking free and retain its library opening hours.

The council agreed the increase at Tuesday (January 7) night's meeting after it had been given the go-ahead by residents following a public consultation at the end of last year.

This will see the precept – the town council's part of the council tax – rise by £3.91 a month for a Band D resident.

A statement posted on the town council's website said the result of the public consultation 'was a clear mandate from residents for the town council to pay significant sums to CEC to avoid them (CEC) introducing charges for users of Pool Bank car park on Palmerston Street and appreciably reducing the the opening hours of Bollington Library'.

The statement added that 75 per cent of that £3.91 increase is attributable to the car park and library while 25 per cent is for a combination of some necessary improvements to the town hall and the effects of ongoing inflation on all of the council's expenditure.

It adds that improvement works that had been proposed for Bollington Civic Hall during the 2025/25 financial year have been paused because of the need to find funding for the car park and library and it is hoped these will be resumed in a subsequent year.

Cheshire East voted in January of last year to introduce car parking charges in all its towns and villages which had been free – including Bollington.

Town councils were given the option of whether they wanted to fund their car parks so the CEC charges wouldn't apply.

They were also given up the option of paying to 'top up' their library hours.

The total council tax figure – which includes the police precept, fire service precept, town council precept and the Cheshire East portion of the bill – will be decided at the full meeting of Cheshire East Council in February.