Northumberland budget saved by 11th hour deal

A letter was sent out to all 67 councillors by chief executive Steve Stewart prior to last night's meeting in Morpeth, spelling out the consequences of them failing to set a budget by the end of this month.

Anger was voiced by some Labour councillors, who described the letter as a threat, although they continued to vote against the budget package put forward by the minority Liberal Democrat administration.

The latest concessions tabled by the administration were sufficient to persuade the main opposition group, the Conservatives, not to oppose the budget package and its £21m worth of savings.

They include an extra £3m in capital funding for highways, an additional £500,000 for day to day maintenance of roads and footpaths and a £500,000 reduction in the amount to be saved on commissioning home care for elderly and disabled people.

These came on top of previous concessions which included a U-turn on closing Ashington leisure centre this year, dropping plans to close libraries and tourist information centres, abandoning a pay freeze for 1,600 staff and saving a community wardens scheme.

Last night council leader Jeff Reid said he hoped all political groups would be prepared to cooperate and work more closely together in the coming 12 months in a bid to avoid similar problems in setting the 2011-12 budget

"Nothing has been put back into this budget which we are not comfortable with. A lot of these savings we never wanted to make in the first place, and we have now found ways of avoiding them."

Conservative leader Peter Jackson said his group had achieved a great deal with the budget, and enough changes had been made in the last two weeks to allow members not to oppose it.

"Our three priorities have been clear: better maintenance of our battered roads and pavements, proper care for our elderly and infirm residents and the need to give our young people the best start in life. We have also said from the start that this can be paid for by good planning and reductions in central administration.''

Labour leader Grant Davey said his group would continue to vote against the budget, which he said did nothing to help Northumberland out of recession, weakened the position of the council and failed to support the people of the county.

Last night's voting saw the Lib Dem and Independent groups support the budget package, the Conservatives abstain and Labour vote against. The agreed proposals involve a 2.8% increase in council tax bills in April.