Staffordshire County Council approves cuts of £120m

A council has approved a plan to find savings of £120m over the next three years.

Philip Atkins, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said he was giving the council a target of finding savings of £7.9m this financial year.

Local authorities have been asked to cut budgets by 25% by the government, but Staffordshire will now look to slash 30% over the next three years.

Spending is likely to be cut in the highways and road safety departments.

Children's services will also be affected with a reduction in "back-office support" to areas such as teenage pregnancy and teacher training.

'Ambitious' savings

However, Mr Atkins said although there were some things the council would need to stop he was confident many savings could be made with minimal impact.

Mr Atkins said savings had been identified over the government targets.

"We will also look for ambitious savings in future years, that will amount to around 30% over three years.

"We have deliberately set ourselves a target that is greater than the 25% stipulated by government as we want to have some leeway to invest in priority areas if it becomes necessary."