South Hams Council Tax 2026

How to read this stock pattern

South Hams's largest property group sits in the lower half of the valuation ladder rather than at the Band D reference used in national tables. Its modal Band C charge is eight-ninths of the Band D rate, and 50.2% of the published stock lies below D. The headline alone does not show how often each band occurs. The stock-weighted amount applies the full distribution for an area-level comparison, while remaining an average rather than a household quotation.

South Hams has a broad valuation-band profile: the largest 3 groups are needed before the cumulative share passes half of the stock. No single band dominates the local picture, which makes a one-band headline especially incomplete. The weighted result is useful for comparing this authority with peers, but the spread across 8 published bands matters just as much. A broad mix also means the area-level mean is less representative of any one household than it is in a concentrated council.

South Hams sits in the upper quarter of South West on the stock-weighted ordering, above the regional median of £2,376.53. This narrows the comparison from a UK rank to authorities facing the same broad regional context, while still correcting each one for its different band mix. The placement says the council's average published stock is relatively costly within that peer set; it does not convert the mean into an individual household charge.

Closest housing-stock shape: Ribble Valley

Ribble Valley is an exceptionally close stock-shape match for South Hams: moving 2.5% of dwellings between valuation bands would make the two published distributions align. That is a stricter comparison than sharing a modal band, because all published bands contribute to the distance.

Four largest band differences

• The largest separation sits at lower Band A, where Ribble Valley holds 13.1% of its stock and South Hams holds 11.2%. The peer is more bottom-weighted at this rung of the valuation list.
• A smaller distinction appears in the upper part of the ladder at Band E. South Hams places 15.9% of dwellings there versus 14.5% for Ribble Valley, giving this profile the heavier upper-band tail at that point.
• A smaller distinction falls on the reference band itself. Band D contains 17.8% of South Hams's stock but 17.2% of Ribble Valley's, so the national headline describes more of the local distribution here.
• A smaller distinction is lower on the ladder at Band C: South Hams has 20.0% of dwellings there, against 19.6% in Ribble Valley. That extra lower-band weight pulls its stock profile away from the peer.

How the wider profile compares

Show every band direction

• Band A leans toward Ribble Valley
• Band B is closely balanced
• Band C is closely balanced
• Band D leans toward South Hams
• Band E leans toward South Hams
• Band F is closely balanced
• Band G is closely balanced
• Band H is closely balanced

This sequence is read from the lowest published band to the highest.

Other close England matches for South Hams: Bromsgrove (3.8% redistribution distance); Harborough (3.9% redistribution distance); Rushcliffe (4.4% redistribution distance); East Devon (4.5% redistribution distance). Ranked across every published band in the England valuation system, this shortlist shows whether Ribble Valley stands alone or sits in a cluster of similarly shaped authorities.