Kirklees Council to cut jobs and freeze council tax

The full council meeting was broadcast live on the Kirklees Council website

Councillors in part of West Yorkshire have voted to freeze council tax.

Labour-run Kirklees Council agreed to accept a government grant of £1.6m to keep the average Band D council tax bill at £1,438.

But in an effort to save £21m from the 2014/15 budget 197 jobs will be lost from a workforce of 12,112, mainly through changes to adult services.

The authority will also introduce an annual charge for residential parking permits.

At a meeting of full council, broadcast on its website, council leader Mehboob Khan said: "Local government faces its biggest challenge ever.

"By 2017 Kirklees Council will have been reduced by a massive £129m."

Mr Khan said the £318.4m budget placed "those who need the services most as our highest priority".

But leader of the opposition Conservative group, Councillor Robert Light, said the plan was a "shambles", describing it as a "one-year stop-gap budget".

Labour's budget was voted through with some concessions to the Green and Valley independent group by 32 votes to 28.

The council said it had saved £63m between 2011-2014 and needed to save another £66m by 2017.