Warnings more council cuts needed

Members of Scarborough Council’s cabinet will be told on Tuesday cuts need to be made to balance the authority’s books during the four years between 2016/17 and 2019/20 because of the expected shortfall in Government cash.

Saving options, including cuts to services, are expected to be presented to councillors at a meeting in December.

“The budget shortfall will not be bridged through efficiencies alone and cuts in service are inevitable in the forthcoming years,” a report prepared for members of the council’s cabinet says.

“Achieving savings in excess of £9.2m over the next four years will be a huge challenge for the authority.”

“Although this level of saving was delivered over the period from 2012 to 2014 it will clearly become more difficult to identify savings going forward as services reach optimal efficiency and budgets reduce,” the report adds.