The portion of council tax paid to Lancashire County Council by Preston residents looks set to be frozen for another year.

If approved the county council, which takes the largest chunk of the council tax payments, will have not raised its percentage for four years.

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Explaining why they have recommended no rise, leader of the county council Geoff Driver, said: “It continues to be a very tough period for the economy and we have made provision to freeze council tax again this year to avoid putting household budgets under any extra pressure.

“The reductions in council funding from government led us to set a three-year budget back in February 2011 and, because we put a clear plan in place right through until March 2014, we have been able to plan for another freeze whilst protecting front line services.

“Over the course of the three years we’ll have spent over £200m less on management and administration alone, as we seek to minimise the impact of any savings on front line services.

“County council staff are working hard to deliver the budget plan and, although it hasn’t been easy for them either, they can already move into 2013-14 with certainty about what needs to be done.”

A full meeting of the council on Thursday 21 February will see the budget set for 2013-14 and council tax decided.