Column by John Hart, leader of Devon County Council

The budget the county council put to bed last week is my 14th as leader and certainly the most difficult.

I said something similar last year but none of us were aware then of what was to come. When we set last year's budget, we knew we had a post-Covid increase in demand for our services for vulnerable children and adults and older people in our county.

But inflation was running at around three per cent and Putin hadn't yet invaded Ukraine.

We are all well aware of what's happened since. Putin's invasion led to a massive hike in fuel prices, a shortage of commodities like wheat and fertiliser and soaring double-digit inflation.

That's why last summer the county council took emergency action to look at our budget, line by line, and identify where we could make savings and do things differently in order to cope with a projected deficit of some £40 million.

That early work has fed through into the preparation for our 2023/24 budget and I am very pleased that Devon's director of finance has been able to certify - as she's required to do by law - that it is both robust and deliverable.

So our revenue spending next year will rise by an overall 10.5 per cent from £629 million to £696 million - just about keeping pace with inflation. There will also be a£172.5 million capital budget for investment in infrastructure such as roads and schools.

Within the revenue budget, there will be increases of 18.4 per cent on children's services and 8.8 per cent on adult services to keep up with the rocketing demand for our help.

And between setting the target budget early in January and finalising it last week, we have also allocated an extra £2 million to drainage and potholes because of the effect of this winter's torrential rain and really cold snaps on our road surfaces.

All of this comes at a cost to you as council taxpayers, I'm afraid. Every year we have to strike a balance between an ever-increasing demand for our services, which requires more expenditure, and levying a council tax which is fair and just. But our budget includes savings of £47.5 million so you can be sure we have done our very best to ensure we get the best value for every pound of yours we spend, cut out wastage and embraced new ways of working and technology that will reduce costs.

We've consulted with the unions, business, representatives of older people as well as voluntary and community groups and the budget has been examined by our all-party scrutiny committees.

Our council tax increase for general services will be 2.99 per cent and we have decided to take up the Government's offer of levying another two per cent to help pay for adult care.

That 4.99 per cent equates to an extra £77.67 increase on the average Band D house or £1.49 more a week. To put it in some sort of context, my Sunday newspaper costs me £3.50.

Devon County Council provides services to around 800,000 people and some 79 per cent of our spending goes on the young, the old and the vulnerable.

You may ask why we have agreed any increase at all. Unlike national Government, which can borrow to finance current spending, we have to set a balanced budget by law. So we have to strike a careful balance between making cuts to our services and asking you to pay more. I believe we have got the balance right in what has been an exceptional year.