A WAR of words and figures raged between borough councillors before they agreed on a new, provisional council tax increase.

Members of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council's management committee agreed to recommend a 4.45 per cent rise to a meeting of the full council.

It will be down to the full council on February 15 to decide whether to go ahead with the charge or amend it.

Labour councillor Andy Blackwood told management committee members he was flabbergasted when a council tax charge of just over three per cent was mooted.

He said: "I am staggered by that proposal. Look, we are ignoring the history of this council. Our history has been year after year after year to keep council tax charges down and keep on dipping into the reserves, just so we can go door to door and say 'hey, we're keeping out council tax charges down'."

He added: "I'm flabbergasted we have not learned the costly history of this council."

Conservative councillor Doug Hollings said it ill-befitted a Labour councillor to make the charge.

He also said it had been a Labour-led council that had dipped into its reserves and kept council tax rates down in the first place.

Coun Blackwood said that was not true and described Coun Hollings's comments as a cheap shot'.

Members then proposed various figures ranging from 3.77 per cent to 4.7 per cent, but none were agreed upon at first.

Members finally settled on a proposed increase of 4.45 per cent.

Committee chairman Coun Howard Legg warned that the figure might be amended by members of the full council before being accepted.

The discussion came after some figures in a recommended 2007/8 budget, written by officers, were amended.

Councillor Mike Goodman told the group he had always been wary of what he described as single issue' campaigns such as the Healthy Living Project, which promotes healthy lifestyles.

Officers had recommended the committee should approve a one-off' payment of £10,000 each year for the next three years to the project from council funds.

The council's chief executive, Tom Grainger, said: "It's always hard to assess what the Healthy Living Project has achieved because it can be a very subjective thing to say."

Members agreed to remove the project from the proposal.