Derbyshire County Council approves cuts to plug £46m budget gap

The cost cutting proposals were approved at a meeting of the council's cabinet on Thursday

Derbyshire County Council has approved a raft of cost control measures in an effort to plug a £46m budget gap.

The authority said it needed to reduce its spending after previously using millions of pounds of its reserves to balance its books.

The new measures include postponing new projects, reducing overtime and freezing recruitment.

But council leader Barry Lewis insisted the authority was "far from" bankruptcy.

The proposals were approved at a meeting of the council's cabinet on Thursday.

Other measures taken include stopping "non-essential" conferences, travel and training, only conducting repairs on council properties if they are needed for health and safety reasons, and reducing the amount spent on equipment.

The measures are designed to reduce the forecasted overspend, which came despite a total of almost £85m of council reserves being used to balance its budget in the current and previous financial years.

'Not a bankruptcy situation'

The council previously blamed external forces, such as high inflation, high demand for services and the nationally set pay award for the budget gap.

"This is not a bankruptcy situation for this council, far from it," said Mr Lewis.

"However, to be completely clear with our residents, employees and partners, this is a difficult situation and we must rise to the challenge.

"We have always been a well-managed, efficient and financially stable council which has balanced our books, maintained a robust level of reserves and been able to support vital, high quality, value-for-money services for our residents across Derbyshire.

"However, the reality is that the financial pressures we are facing, along with other councils and households, are now greater than ever experienced before, with most of these pressures being simply outside our control."