RESIDENTS across North Yorkshire are to be given their chance to quiz councillors over a proposed council tax rise of nearly ten per cent.

A series of drop-in sessions are to be held at libraries, when a senior member of North Yorkshire County Council will be on hand to listen to views from local people.

The sessions have been timed to coincide with area committee meetings, when county council leader John Weighell will answer questions about the budget and its impact on services.

A new Government formula allocating central funding would mean council tax rises of 11.5 per cent.

But Coun Weighell is set to consult residents on a 9.5 per cent figure.

"Passing on the increases expected in the Government formula would lead to an increase in council tax of about 11.5 per cent and I believe that is unacceptably high," he said.

"The services we provide at county level are vital to all our communities.

"We want to improve them even further, but we don't believe that people can afford increases of the kind that are being suggested." In broad terms, a 9.5 percent increase would add £69 to the council tax bill for a Band D property in North Yorkshire, meaning a total of £802 for the next financial year.

Coun Weighell said: "Councillors serving North Yorkshire are facing a number of very difficult decisions over the next few weeks and it is vital that we hear the views of as many people as possible through public consultation."

The drop-in session for the Yorkshire Coast and Moors will be at Whitby library tomorrow from 11am to 2pm, with the area committee meeting at Scarborough Town Hall at 6.30pm.

On Monday, from 2pm to 4pm at Tadcaster library there will be a drop-in session for the Selby area, with the meeting at Selby District Council offices that evening, at 6.30pm.

Norton Library will host the Ryedale drop-in from 2pm to 4pm on Wednesday, January 15, followed by the area committee meeting, at 6pm, at Ryedale House, Malton.

Hambleton area drop-in session will be on Monday, January 20, from 11am to 2pm, at Easingwold library, and the committee meeting, at County Hall, Northallerton, will start at 5pm.

Harrogate area committee will hold its drop-in session in the library, from 11am to 2pm, on Thursday, January 23, and the meeting will be at 6pm, at a venue to be confirmed.

Updated: 10:52 Wednesday, January 08, 2003