EAST Hampshire District Council has agreed to reduce its share of the Council Tax by two per cent.

The move makes it one of the only councils in the country to make such a cut.

Shrewd investments, efficient services and money-making ventures have allowed the council to buck the national trend, despite unprecedented financial pressures on local authorities.

EHDC Leader, Cllr Ferris Cowper, said: “Our financial strategy is radical and unique. Where many councils cope with a drop in income by raising taxes or cutting services we have decided to go a different way.

“This is a long term decision taken in the light of our ambitious plans to demonstrate that local government can be totally refinanced away from government hand-outs and taxes, leading to independence from government and nil tax.

“By cutting our Council Tax for the 2016/17 financial year we will show our ambitious plans are serious and achievable.”

The cut was agreed at EHDC’s Full Council on Thursday, February 25.

A survey by the Local Government Chronicle shows that, of 140 councils canvassed, EHDC is the only one to be contemplating a reduction in tax.

It is expected Government grants to councils, traditionally one of a local authority’s main sources of income, will reduce by 48 per cent between 2016 and 2020 and eventually disappear altogether.

The council intends to make up this shortfall in cash by continually seeking out and investing in new sources of income. Money-making business ventures, the sale of services to other local authorities and investment in blue-chip commercial properties are all bringing in income.

The two percent reduction in Council Tax will leave Band D properties paying £134.58 to EHDC.