More than 400 Walsall Council jobs to go

More than 430 jobs are to go as Walsall Council aims to save £23.5m over the next year.

The figure includes 102 compulsory redundancies and the same number of voluntary redundancies at the Conservative-controlled authority.

A total of 138 posts are vacant and the remaining jobs have been relocated.

Council leader Mike Bird said Walsall was one of the better West Midlands councils in relation to job cuts it was having to seek.

Asked if there was any alternative to cutting these jobs, he said: "Absolutely not."

Mr Bird added: "There will be cuts in youth services to a small extent, but what we have to say is we are still protecting the third sector or the voluntary sector as we know it.

"We are maintaining the six and a half million pounds that we put into that.

"So we are hopeful that we can work with the voluntary sector to assist in filling the gaps that unfortunately have been created by lack of funding."

The budget was approved on Thursday evening.