COUNCIL tenants are to be hit by an average rent hike of nearly £190 a year.

The average increase of 3.49 per cent is part of the coming year’s budget approved last night by Oxford City Council. It also rubber-stamped its spending strategy for the next three years.

The council agreed savings of about £4m from its net expenditure over the next four years – on top of £6.7m already made.

But it also set aside a £264.6m cash pot for housing schemes over the next decade.

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Greater Leys resident Suzannah Berry, 28, said the rent rise would be ‘a disaster’.

Ms Berry lives in her one-bed flat with daughter Skye, one, and said her rent would rise by about £121.68 per year.

She said: “I am on benefits and would struggle to find this extra money. I already find it hard to pay our rent and electricity, so this would mean cutting back on other things like food and heating.”

To help pay for new projects, councillors voted to raise the local authority’s part of the council tax for band D properties by 1.99 per cent, about 10p extra each week.

They also voted to increase council home rents by an average of £3.59 per week.

But although the council said this would amount to an average increase in rent for households of £186.68 per year, it emerged some 2,825 three-bedroom houses will be subject to an average increase of £222.56.

To offset the extra costs for tenants, the council said it would continue a large-scale scheme to make all its homes more energy-efficient to save money on bills.

Jourdain Road resident of 46 years Valerie Parrott said she and her husband Fred, who live together in a three-bedroom council house, could find it difficult to find the extra cash when faced with lower increases in their pensions.

But the couple’s home is also one of many to have had its loft insulated by the council and also had solar panels put on its roof.

Mrs Parrot said: “It can be scary because we do not claim benefits and don’t always know if our pensions will go up enough to cover rent increases.

“But since the council came and insulated the loft this house has got warmer and so we hope it will save us money on energy costs.”

City council leader Bob Price said: “We are very pleased to have been able to deliver this budget without any significant cuts and also continue to provide council tax support to those who can’t afford it.

“There is also a huge programme of improvements for our council homes planned. We are aware that energy prices are a big issue for people and we want to get ahead of the game.”

As part of a scheme to tackle rising house prices in Oxford, the city council has pledged to spend £264.6m on housing over the next decade, including a £96m boost announced in December.

Deputy leader Ed Turner said: “This is the most desperate crisis facing Oxford at the moment and we are active in tackling it.”

The housing drive will be funded by £65.3m of reserves, £32m of loans, £11.1m raised by land or asset sales, £2.4m from other grants or contributions and £153.8m of council income.

The price of parking in city-run car parks will also increase by up to 15p an hour and the price of using some of the council’s leisure centres will rise.