STUDLEY and Alcester residents will pay an average of another £37 in council tax from April.

Warwickshire County Council, whose budget takes most from the bill, raised its demand on taxpayers by 2.96 per cent - from £922 up to £949 for a Band D property.

Stratford District Council raised its portion of the bill by 3.7 per cent, or from £106 to £110 for a Band D property.

Warwickshire Police Authority asked for the largest rise with a 4.7 per cent increase, from £126 up to £132 for a Band D property.

It means average Band D bills will rise from £1,155 to £1,192.

Studley Parish Council and Alcester Town Council will also add their demands to the bill but these will be a small percentage of the total.

Studley county councillor Helen McCarthy said the overall rise had not been "too bad" this year.

She said a priority for the county and district this year had to be to reduce the waste mountain.

A recent public consultation meeting in Stratford had outlined four priorities: reduce waste by encouraging better packaging, increase more recycling schemes, create power from waste at Coventry incinerator, thermally treat the rest to reduce it down.

She said Stratford district residents and businesses already recycled 34 per cent of its waste, exceeding government targets by four per cent, but the amount of landfilling had to be reduced further.