Plans to brighten up the seafront and town centre in Teignmouth will mean residents will be paying almost 10% more to the Town Council precept in this coming year’s council tax bills.

Teignmouth Town Councillors agreed a 9.9% increase in the 2025/26 precept – the part of the council tax bill that goes towards funding the Town Council’s activities.

This equates to an additional 33 pence per week for a Band D property.

Councillors agreed the budget at the January Town Council meeting.

As well as funding cost of living increases and higher staffing costs, due to changes in minimum wage and national insurance contributions, the money will be used to install decorative lighting along the seafront and to install new hanging flower baskets in the town centre.

Teignmouth seafront was plunged into darkness in October 2021 when Devon County Council removed lighting columns and the catenary decorative lighting between the lamp-posts due to safety concerns.

While Devon County Council replaced the lampposts the following summer, the town has been without decorative lighting along the seafront since then.

The new decorative lighting will not be the multicoloured light festoons linked between the posts as was previously the case, but more of a decorative feature on the lamp-posts due to the structural nature of the lamp posts.

The lighting scheme will be rolled out once technical permission has been granted by Devon County Council and planning permission has been acquired from Teignbridge District Council.

Teignmouth Town Centre will benefit from new, water-holding, hanging basket planters. In the last few years, the existing poles have been decimated by traffic accidents and wear and tear.

Dawlish Town Council recently agreed a 25 pence per week increase to its precept for a Band D property, while Newton Abbot Residents will only have to find another 17 pence per week as the Town Council agreed its lowest council tax precept for years.