COUNCIL Tax-payers in the Forest of Dean district have been given a warning about future bills.

The cost of running new recycling initiatives, including the planned kerbside collection of recyclables, has been put at £300,000 a year. The initiative is also being supported by £1 million of Government funds.

A review of council pension funds, due next April, is also expected to add £200,000 a year to the cost to the council. Neither item currently appears in the council's projected spending.

The district council's executive was yesterday (Thursday) given a report on finances for the years 2004/5 and 2005/6.

It showed a estimated deficit in funding of £809,000 for next year and £1.223m for the year after.

The committee was told that each £100,000 represented around £3.50 on Council Tax bills, representing an increase of £28 next year.

This year bills increased by 4.5 per cent to £140.47 for the average Band D home.