COUNCILLORS in East Yorkshire will be asked to approve a council tax freeze for the fifth year.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council will settle its 2014/15 budget and has said its plans will not see any public facilities closing, despite needing to save £23.7 million during the year and warnings that funding cuts are expected until at least 2018/19.

A report by corporate resources director Malcolm Sims going before next Thursday’s full council meeting said that, if the cabinet approves the proposals, council tax will stand still as the Government’s freeze grant is accepted.

A further tax freeze is predicted for 2015/16, with two per cent annual increases after that.

It said next year’s budget had been balanced by using funds from the council’s reserves, particularly £7.1 million for adult services and £906,000 for children’s services, but said this could not continue indefinitely.

Budget underspends from the last three years have helped meet funding challenges. Mr Sims’s report said services would have to be increasingly targeted towards the region’s most vulnerable people.

The council has saved £71 million since 2010/11, but another £70 million will be needed by 2017/18 and it expects to have lost £64.4 million in funding between 2010 and 2018.