THE leader of Worcestershire County Council has ruled out hefty tax rises "each and every year" - saying he is not prepared to lumber householders with ever-increasing bills.

Instead, Councillor Simon Geraghty insists he plans to be "instinctively" low-tax over the years to come.

Back in February County Hall decided to up its council tax by four per cent, with the bill for average band D homes rising by more than £42.

The controversial move came about after Chancellor George Osborne ripped up his old council tax 'cap' of two per cent for authorities with adult social are responsibilities.

Councillor Geraghty took over the top job back in January and has insisted he does not intend to make it a regular occurrence.

February's hike saw the largest properties in Worcestershire forking out more than £85 a year extra, with Labour group leader Councillor Peter McDonald criticising it.

The council tax rise this year will result in an extra £4.2 million being pumped into adult social care during 2016/17 in Worcestershire.

Councillor Geraghty said: "The Government have relaxed somewhat their approach to council tax setting.

"(It) enables upper-tier authorities such as ours to levy up to a further two per cent 'adult social care precept' to go some way towards paying for the demographic pressures from more people needing our care.

"Whilst this flexibility is welcome, instinctively I'm not in favour of adding to the council tax burden by the maximum permitted level each and every year.

"We will therefore carefully consider council tax levels each year based on the prevailing conditions at the time."

The pledge is revealed in his annual 'state of the county' address, an eight-page report being delivered at a full council meeting this Thursday.

In it, he calls the council tax decision "a tricky balance" given that the cash from it makes up 70 per cent of the authority's income.

He has also issued a rallying call for County Hall to innovate more and "take some risks" - saying the alternative is to stagnate.