A new council tax for West Sussex has been approved after a last minute row over spending on social services.

County Hall's share of West Sussex bills will be £660.78 for an average Band D home, a rise of just over £40.

The ruling Tory group had planned to raise taxes by less than six per cent but changed its mind before the meeting.

The money will give the council another £1.8 million of spending power.

Councillor Colin Waller said £950,000 would be pumped into hard-up social services to make up for reduced Government grants.

The remainder will go into the council's contingency fund to cover events like a repeat of this year's operation to protect Chichester from flooding.

Liberal Democrats called for all the extra £1.8 million to be put into social services but the move was defeated.

The £660 figure does not include extra sums to pay for Sussex Police and the district and borough councils.

Coun Waller said: "This is a budget that I believe reasonably balances the interests of those who need our services and those who have to pay for them."

He said a Band D tax payer would have to find less than 80p a week more.

Lib Dem leader Dr James Walsh said many elderly people were having services withdrawn because social services had been "woefully" underfunded for many years.