Many households will be paying more than £1,000 in council tax from April.

Brighton and Hove City Council approved a 14.5 per cent rise in tax last night.

With a huge extra increase for police, it means an overall rise of 16.4 per cent.

At the same time it is having to make cuts totalling £6 million, mainly because of a harsh settlement from the Government.

Payments will be: Band A £715.82, Band B £835.12, Band C £954.43, Band D £1,073.73, Band E £1,312.34, Band F £1.550.94, Band G £1,789.55, Band H £2.147. 46.

Finance councillor Jackie Lythell said the authority would spend more than £100 million on education in the next financial year.

This is an increase in the schools budget of £7.5 million, which includes extra money for teachers' pensions. Spending on looking after children will rise by £2.8 million and another £6.3 million will go additionally on looking after older people.

Coun Lythell added much of the savings would be on red tape and front line services would be protected.

She added: "We carried out in-depth consultation with small groups of residents which shows that when faced with the reality of the costs of education and social care an increase of something like £2 a week is not welcome, but it is necessary.

"Despite all this I am absolutely confident that our increase will actually be one of the lowest in the region."

Tory opposition leader Brian Oxley proposed an alternative budget, cutting out more than £700,000 on what he saw as waste and earmarking £177,000 to keep concessionary fares for pensioners before 9am on weekdays.

He said: "If we do not begin to take control of our financial destiny we will be facing council tax rises like this for many years to come."

Tory finance spokesman Garry Peltzer Dunn told colleagues: "We will be paying more for less."

Greens forecast that council tax would rise by 75 per cent in the city over the next three years.

Convenor Keith Taylor said: "The council is set on course to double taxes and slash services. We run the risk of driving people with low incomes out of the city."