A LAST-minute change has led to Darlington residents paying fractionally less council tax than had been expected.

Council leader John Williams told a special council meeting that instead of the 8.4pc rise ratified by the cabinet, he was proposing a 7.9pc rise.

Fresh sets of papers had to be issued to every member as he explained that £147,000 would be pruned from a contingency "headroom" fund to enable the cut.

The announcement stole the thunder of the Tory group, who had an amendment of their own up their sleeves.

Tory leader Coun Tony Richmond wanted to slash the increase to 2.4pc, using £1.65m of the money won back from Durham County Council through a court action last year.

He said the council's reserves had jumped from £1.76m two years ago to £8m simply because of that windfall.

"This is money that was taken from the residents of Darlington originally; it was their money in the first place, paid before we became a unitary council."

He poured scorn on Labour's "budget afterthought", adding: "An 0.5pc reduction is nothing short of pathetic."

Coun Charles Johnson,(Con) who officially proposed a 2.4pc increase, declared: "This is not a needy budget, it is a greedy budget. The people who rent and own homes in Darlington deserve more consideration."

Coun Heather Scott (Con) raised the possibility of Darlington being capped by the Labour Government for levying more than a 6pc rise..

Coun Williams said he was confident the authority's four-year financial plan was a robust and sound one. "If we are capped we would have to just sit down and see where we are going."

He told the Tories:" What you are proposing here is splitting the civic purse asunder and throwing away the money. It is reckless in the extreme.

"It is a one-off raid on the civic balances of Darlington that we have been entrusted to look after. It can't be repeated.

"What would you do when you've got a £1.6m black hole in the budget for the start of next year."

The council tax including fire and police precepts for a Band D property is now £1,098.51 instead of £1,103.10.