COUNCIL chiefs in Darlington last night approved plans to increase council tax by 8.4 per cent and introduce on-street car parking charges in the town centre.

Members of Darlington Borough Council's cabinet unanimously approved both proposals without any debate at a meeting held in the town hall.

Final decisions on both issues will be made at a meeting of the full council, when opposition councillors are expected to oppose the proposals.

The authority's leader Labour Councillor John Williams, recommending that the council tax rise should be approved.

He said that a campaign should be mounted to encourage those people in the borough who are entitled to claim council tax benefits to do so.

Coun Williams said the local authority's proposed budget would be analysed at a meeting of the resources scrutiny committee on February 12.

He said: "We then have a council meeting at the beginning of March, when all members will have their say and a chance to vote."

A proposal to abolish council tax discounts for long-term empty properties, and to reduce the discount from 50 per cent to ten per cent for second homes, was also approved.

Councillor Don Bristow, the authority's cabinet member for resource management, said: "We do have 1,000 empty properties which are going to waste.

"Removing discount would be an incentive to owners to bring them back into use."

The on-street car parking scheme, which would see motorists paying £1-an-hour to park on roads in the town centre roads which currently have waiting restrictions, was recommended for approval by Councillor Nick Wallis, Darlington council's cabinet member for transport.

He said: "It is in my opinion an anomaly that free on-street car parking spaces sit cheek- by-jowl with paid off-street parking spaces."

The borough council's cabinet also approved a series of other measures, including:

l The release of capital funding for the construction of a primary school in Skerne Park.

l A proposal to begin searching for a Darlington school to be transformed into a hub of the community, with the support of a £168,480 Government grant.

l A proposal for the authority to monitor closed-circuit television cameras in Bishop Auckland and Crook, on behalf of Wear Valley District Council.

l The writing-off of council tenant arrears of £98,299.

l A grant to the Springfield Centre to carry out a survey on whether residents want a community centre