Households in South Lakeland are likely to face a council tax bill hike of about £55 from April.

The main players of Cumbria County Council, Cumbria Police Authority and South Lakeland District Council are all set to rubber-stamp their 2005-6 budgets.

CCC looks set to demand 4.6 per cent more, Cumbria Police Authority around four per cent, and South Lakeland District Council is looking at a 4.5 per cent increase.

CCC's deputy leader Liberal Democrat Coun Mike Ash said he was "very pleased" with the budget, which came in the face of increasing demands on the authority's resources and less funding from Government.

Coun Ash said one of the biggest winners in this budget was the council's troubled social services department.

Last year, the department was rated at zero stars and described as "failing" vulnerable children by Department of Health inspectors.

Coun Ash said the results of the latest inspection in December would be reported on February 22. "We are very confident we will get good news," he said.

It was not all good news, though, and he warned there were "areas of real tightening", such as the freezing of the level of grants to non-council organisations.

He added that increased recycling targets had posed problems which, in the short term, had been overcome by setting aside an extra £3 million for waste management, but added: "Long term we have a real problem."

However, Labour group leader Coun Stewart Young said that, despite a "high tax, high spending" administration of Lib Dems and Conservatives, services had got worse in the last four years.

He welcomed the funding boost for social services, which was "going in the right direction", but warned it was improved results, not increased spending, that mattered.

Overall, for band D homes, the proposed council tax rise equates to an increase of £55.82 in Kendal to £1,296; £55.66 in Ambleside (£1,292); £55.60 in Sedbergh (£1,291); and £56.01 in Ulverston (£1,301).

The lion's share of council tax is imposed by CCC, which takes 76 per cent of the bill that every South Lakeland household pays, with a 12 per cent slice taken by both the police and SLDC.

However, the district council will have to make savings of £900,000 if it is to keep a balanced budget in 2005/06, as was revealed at this week's general purposes committee meeting.

All the council tax is collected by SLDC, which then pays out a large amount of the money collected to the other authorities.

SLDC will pay the highest amount of all the authorities to CCC next year, at £43.6 million. The county's total budget is £503 million.