Portland Town Council is set to get a far greater share of council tax precept payments from the island due to local government reorganisation.

At a town council meeting, councillors endorsed an increase of more than 331 per cent to its council tax precepts for 2019/20.

Based on a Band D household, the island precept will jump from £23 to £99.29 per year.

Portland Town Council stressed however that the final amount that the people of Portland pay for the precept “will be the same amount as they do now” – but a larger share will go towards the town council due to the local government reorganisation.

The overall council tax bill will not be known until charges are agreed for the new Dorset Council and by the police and fire services.

The increase for the island is due to the separating out of local services from the borough council to Portland Town Council which in future will manage green spaces, some car parks, public toilets and monuments such as the Portland cenotaph and the clock in Easton Gardens.

The draft precept document outlined an additional cost of £279,600 due to the devolution of extra services to the town council. That includes £7,000 for car parks, £25,000 for equipment, £36,000 for green spaces, £85,000 for payroll and £90,000 for toilets.

Town clerk Karon McFarlane said: “It’s good news that the year on year costs have not increased despite fears from a minority of the public that there would be a big increase to cover the cost of taking on a significant sized building, the Portland Community Venue.

“The new venue not only provides an office for the town council but also a venue for a community nursery, a youth service and we are hopeful that other services and private room hire will increase the income over the year.”

Speaking at the meeting, council chairman Cllr Ray Nowak said: “We, and future generations of residents of Portland, will set the standards and decide if car parks will remain free of charge rather than being decided by some people that don't live here and may not even have visited the island.

“We as a town council will provide a much more direct service to the island community and I am really pleased. It should have happened years ago.

“We have secured not just provision of very local services but the right for Portland residents to have a say about keeping or not. That is what localism should be about – local people making local decisions.”