Richmond residents will see their council tax rise by nearly five per cent from April, with band D households paying almost £2,400 over the year.

Richmond Council approved plans to hike council tax by the maximum amount allowed for 2025/26 on Tuesday (4 March 2025).

The council passed its budget for the upcoming financial year at the meeting, which will see it spend £197.5million overall on services for residents.

Lib Dem councillor Robin Brown, finance and resources lead member, said the budget would allow the authority to look after residents who needed it the most, while maintaining financial flexibility.

Councillor Brown said: "This budget recognises the significant pressure on our social care services. It ensures that we continue to deliver on key manifesto and resident priorities and it provides a significant investment in infrastructure and the future of this borough."

The approved budget plans include a 4.99 per cent rise in the authority's share of council tax – the maximum increase allowed without holding a referendum.

This includes a 2.99 per cent increase for general use and an extra two per cent for adult social care.

Overall, band D households in Richmond will pay total council tax of £2,372 in 2025/26 – including the council's share of the bill rising by £89 to £1,882.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan's share will increase by £19 to £490 for the average band D household to help fund police, fire and transport.

A report by council officers said the 4.99 per cent hike was needed to 'manage the council's finances responsibly over the long term'.

It said the authority was facing ongoing pressures due to spiralling demand on social care and homelessness services, inflation and 'serious, long-term reductions in local government funding'.

The budget includes an extra £7m to fund pressures in adult social care, particularly due to increasing demand and intensity of need among people requiring home care and mental health patients.

It factors in a further £2.2m to meet rising demand in children's social care and education, help with the rising cost of placements for children in care, increase investment in preventative services and support pupils needing home to school transport.

York House on Richmond Road, Twickenham (credit: Jonathan Cardy/Wikimedia Commons).

An extra £600,000 has been set aside to fund temporary accommodation for homeless people in Richmond, along with another £300,000 to improve waste and cleaning services.

The council will also spend a record £12.9m on roads and pavements over the next three years.

The authority found £6.8m in savings over 2025/26 to ease pressures on the budget, mainly by delivering services more efficiently.

The report said some of the savings would come from lowering procurement costs, while £1.7m would come from modernising, digitising or otherwise changing services across departments.

Opposition councillors claimed the budget was heading in a worrying direction, however, as they raised concerns the authority was relying too heavily on reserves to balance the books and delaying major projects.

Green councillor Andrée Frieze, opposition leader, said 'too many [projects] are sliding into next year, some of them are even being carried over from the previous year', as she raised concerns about slow progress on schemes including the revamp of Twickenham Riverside.

Councillor Frieze added the budget included 'some good plans, but some not so good planning, lack of investment to save for the future, whether on cash or carbon, financial holes being filled by reserves'.

But Councillor Brown argued the authority's budget made the right choices.

He said: "This administration is presenting a budget which is balanced, doesn't impose any cuts in services, recognises the pressures in our social care system, supports our manifesto promises and plans substantial investment in the future of the borough."

Lib Dem council leader Gareth Roberts said the budget would keep Richmond as 'the best borough in London' to live.

But he warned residents faced an 'unfair' council tax system, with rates based on house valuations from 1991. 

Councillor Roberts said: "There is an inherently unfair system that a multi-millionaire living in a 10-bedroom mansion in Westminster, will pay less council tax per annum than two people living in a one-bedroom flat in this borough."

The authority has published a breakdown of the total council tax residents in Richmond will pay over 2025/26, including the Mayor's share of the bill.

This is summarised below:

• Band A: £1,581
• Band B: £1,845
• Band C: £2,109
• Band D: £2,372
• Band E: £2,899
• Band F: £3,426
• Band G: £3,953
• Band H: £4,744

A new weekly banding scheme is being introduced in Richmond to determine the level of council tax support low-income residents receive from April.

People's weekly income will be used to determine what discounts they get, with vulnerable households entitled to a discount of up to 100 per cent.

The changes mean 954 households will get more help with their council tax than before, while 355 households will get less.