DEVIZES Town Council is to increase its council tax precept by five and a half per cent, the first significant rise in recent years.

For the past eight years the precept has not risen by more than 2.5 per cent.

The latest hike will result in the precept for a band D property of around £98, compared to this year's figure of £93.10.

Councillors said the biggest increase in expenditure which had required the high rise was the cost of installing disabled access at the town hall.

The cost has almost doubled since the council had to shelve its original plan of installing an external ramp following objections from English Heritage.

Internal walls will have to be knocked down to create the new access and the total cost of the scheme is now £142,000 compared to the original cost of £84,000.

The council also agreed, by a majority, to pay £15,000 towards the cost of employing a town centre manager, a Devizes Development Partnership initiative.

The council agreed to put aside £45,000 it had received from the Government for the extra costs it faces for having to comply with Best Value legislation, to be used to pay off a predicted shortfall of £120,000 on a loan the council took out to refurbish the Corn Exchange.

The loan of £520,000 needs to be repaid by 2009/10 and the shortfall has arisen due to the council's investment portfolio not performing as well as originally thought.