IT must be Spring, because another whopping council tax bill is about to drop on to our doormats.

And, like last year, the year before, and the year before that, residents living in Oxford face the prospect of some of the largest council tax increases in the country.

Take a householder living in an average-sized Band D property.

They will be paying £57.87 more this year than in 2008/09.

Amazingly, those living in a Band D property in Old Marston will end up paying £150 a year more in their rates than those living in an equivalent house in Chipping Norton.

Pensioners will be hit the hardest, but in this financial climate everyone will surely feel the pinch.