COUNCIL tax payers in Hyndburn will pay an extra 3.7 per cent this year after councillors agreed a 'budget for everyone.' Among projects earmarked for investment are £110,000 to promote community safety and £57,000 to increase the number of dog fouling bins and employ a full time dog patrol warden.

More than £300,000 will be put towards the Floral Market Town Scheme and more than £1.5million will be used to provide free travel for over 60s in the borough and there will be a £1million investment in a flagship apprenticeship scheme for 75 young people a year, in conjunction with Accrington and Rossendale College.

The three-year scheme will offer training in a variety of jobs, with people then given the chance of work with the council.

Hyndburn Council's part of the bill will rise by 4.95 per cent but the overall per centage increase is smaller when payments to Lanca-shire County Council and the police and fire services are taken into account.

The budget means that people in a band D property will pay £1,492.83.

Tory council leader Coun Peter Britcliffe told the meeting at Accrington town hall that the budget was "one of the most exciting budgets in the last quarter of a century."

He said: "There is something for everyone in this budget. We are investing in young people in a way that's never been done before."

Councillors largely welcomed the budget, but the opposition Labour party, led by Coun Graham Jones did not table a budget, but suggested tax should rise no more than two per cent and the shortfall should be made up from reserves.

Coun Jones said: "It's a shame the Tories have voted for a five per cent increase because there is no need to go above two per cent."

Deputy leader of the Conservative Party, Coun Brian Roberts, said the Labour party's lack of a budget was "weak, weak, weak."