Council funding: Derby facing 'horrendous' budget cuts

Fireworks displays are one of the events that will be cut by Derby City Council under new budget proposals

Ninety job losses and "horrendous" cuts to council services including homelessness support and festive lights are being forced on Derby City Council, its leader says.

The authority says it needs to save £45m over the next three years due to government cuts.

The city's Moorways swimming pool will have to shut in March if the proposed budget is approved, the leader of the Labour-run council Ranjit Banwait said.

He described the cuts as "tragic".

The proposals will go to consultation before any final decisions are made.

'Horrendous cuts'

Mr Banwait said the authority needed to make savings of £19m next year along with an additional 90 redundancies.

"It is a budget that no Labour party would be proud of," Mr Banwait said, adding: "We could see potentially (a total of) 200 job losses - we are in a very tragic position.

"The government has swagger about it - we will see another five years of horrendous cuts."

Plans to replace the 33m Moorways pool with a bigger 50m pool have been put on hold.

The council wants to replace the 33m Moorways Pool with a larger one by 2018 but plans have been put on hold

Mr Banwait said the annual festive lights in the city at Christmas and Diwali, as well as the Darley Park concert, would not go ahead next year unless outside funding was secured.

The budget proposals would also scrap funding for "neighbourhood management" which allows councillors to spend a total of about £1m a year on community projects in their own wards.

The council's deputy Conservative leader, Matthew Holmes, said: "Labour are proposing to totally decimate the ability of councillors and local people to make improvements in their area and support community groups and activities."

Council UKIP leader, Alan Graves, said the party was disappointed the council had failed to cut councillor allowances which are worth a total of £600,000 a year.

Council tax is also expected to rise by 4% in each of the next three years.