Essex County Council has announced plans to spend almost £2m on funding for homelessness, the war on drugs, highways and mental health support.

A total of £500,000 is to spent on helping Essex Police tackle County Lines, to protect young people who may be at risk from drugs gangs.

A sum of £1million is being invested to implement a variety of schemes for both adult and children with mental health issues, including support for parents around self harm.

Leader David Finch also announced £700,000 to help repair pavements and footways across the county.

A further £250,000 is being invested to pay for mentors to help support up to 50 people at risk of rough sleeping and 150 people at risk of losing their homes.

He said: “This year’s budget and the plan for how we will spend taxpayers’ money sets the stage for a vibrant, dynamic and inspiring Essex – learning from challenges and building on our successes.

“County Lines, which have brought drugs and associated crime to urban and rural areas of Essex, is a real and present danger to communities up and down our county.

“Our Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Roger Hirst has identified this as a priority and with our responsibility for the wider wellbeing of all our communities, we are making £500,000 available for partnership working to protect young people at risk from those who might exploit them.

“The mental health of our young people is a growing concern. We are rightly proud of our outstanding children’s services, so I am pleased to announce extra support to the tune of £1m for children’s mental health provision.”

The council sasy that the combined impact of reductions in revenue support grant, plus the impact of inflation, means it needs to put up council taxes by 3.99 per cent – of this one per cent is ringfenced for adult social care.

It means the average county council tax bill for a band D property is going up by just short of £50 to £1,270.44.