CORNISH residents will face a council tax rise of almost 3 per cent to help boost council coffers, it was agreed yesterday.

The 2.9 per cent increase will mean the council tax for a band D property for 2010/11 will rise to £1,244.41 – an increase of about 67p a week.

The decision was made at a full meeting of Cornwall Council in Truro yesterday as part of a vote on setting the unitary authority budget.

Cornwall Council leader Alec Robertson said the annual council budget of £451.9 million, including the decision to increase council tax, was "a good one, founded on good Cornish common sense and pragmatism".

But some councillors accused the council of a "lack of transparency", suggesting the report prepared for the meeting did not contain enough details about potential cuts to services.

There were also concerns from campaigners that some Cornish council tax payers would be unable to afford the increases.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "People in Cornwall have suffered massively from the recession and very few people can afford to pay extra council tax.

"The council should be focused on cutting out all waste and unnecessary activities in order to reduce the burden on local people."

Protester Peter Collins, treasurer of Penwith 50+ Forum, said that the council tax rise would be an additional burden on the county's already cash-strapped pensioners.

Earlier, Mr Collins joined nearly 30 others in launching a demonstration outside County Hall, aimed at creating awareness of poverty among the region's older people.

He said: "The tax rise is going to be very difficult to find for some elderly people because I am sure their pensions are not going to increase by the same amount."

Budget pressures, including an increased demand for services and a reduction in income levels and the need to find funding for "priority" areas, resulted in the council tax rise being included in the budget.

Priority areas identified by the council include the adult care and support department responsible for adult social care, recently described as "adequate" by the Care Quality Commission.

Services responsible for the protection of vulnerable children, as well as those looking after the county's elderly, are also considered a priority by council chiefs.

But the budget states that children's services spending is to be cut in the long-term. An extra £2 million will be spent in 2010, but cuts will follow, said Coun Robertson.

The fire service budget is also to be cut by £800,000 over four years as the council looks to make £100 million spending cuts by 2014.

Yesterday's debate, watched by a packed public gallery, was curtailed just before lunch due to many elected members speaking for more than their allocated time.

More than a dozen councillors were left disappointed when they were refused the opportunity to ask further questions about the budget before the vote was taken.

Coun Jeremy Rowe, who had planned to ask a question about library services, said: "There are now a whole load of unanswered questions about this budget."

After the meeting, council leader Mr Robertson was asked to reflect on claims made in 2008 by One Cornwall, the team engineering the move from district and county councils to unitary authority, that the savings generated from it would offset the transition costs by 2011.

Mr Robertson said: "There has been streamlining and we have achieved savings of around £15 million this year. But the other side of the coin is the cost associated with becoming a unitary authority, which we underestimated, and we have had to address that in this budget."