Nottingham City Council backs tax rise budget

A budget which includes tax rises and service cuts has been approved by Nottingham City Council.

The Labour-run authority said it faced a £25m deficit on a budget of £267m due to increased costs and a fall in government grants.

On Monday evening it passed plans to save £16.7m and has approved a council tax increase of nearly 2%.

There will be changes to children's services, adult social care and road repairs along with a staff pay freeze.

The council said it had made almost £120m of cost reductions over the past four years but there are fewer options to explore in back-office savings.

The Conservative opposition said the authority should have used government grants available for freezing council tax.