POOLE entrepreneur Richard Carr has offered to solve Borough of Poole's financial problems by sharing some of his money-making ideas - free of charge.

The well-known businessman has written to the leader of the council suggesting it could "easily create £20m over four years."

Borough of Poole has just announced it needed to make savings of between £18m and £20m over this period due to cuts in government funding and increased demand for services.

The latest bad news is that it must find an additional £12million after last month's Local Government Financial Settlement revealed that central government revenue funding will reduce from £15 million each year to zero by 2019, instead of 2021 as anticipated.

Mr Carr's letter was prompted by Borough of Poole's decision to replace weekly rubbish collections with a fortnightly service.

He wrote: "I have a young family and we and many others will not be able to function on bi-weekly collections."

He goes on: "I am not looking for any remuneration but believe that I could create some ideas for the council to consider that would not all be controversial and give you the increase in the budget to not make cuts but to increase services!"

The letter, which was also sent personally to all councillors, has attracted a tongue-in-cheek response from Liberal Democrat councillor Phil Eades, who writes: "It’s as if the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Father Christmas have all come together," and refers to Mr Carr "riding on his white charger to the rescue of all the people of Poole."

But Mr Carr insists it was well meant and not intended as a criticism of the council.

He told the Echo he wanted to "provoke a conversation" adding: "I do believe that there are a whole host of opportunities for Poole to both increase capital and revenue streams."

Among his suggestions were new "restaurants and facilities for visitors" along Poole's beaches - he called Eddie Mitchell's Sandbanks Beach Stadium scheme "potentially a great idea."

He also suggested developing some car parks - including at Canford Cliffs Village - to provide both public parking and private housing.

He added: "I'm sure there are other businessmen with other ideas. All I am doing is offering my view as an entrepreneur of things that could be done that would be great for the town, great for the economy and possibly alleviate the shortage of money that Poole has obviously got."

Andrew Flockhart, Chief Executive, Borough of Poole, said without support from central government, it was likely the council would have to "rely entirely on local sources of funding" including taxes, fees and charges.

He added: "Therefore, we welcome any suggestions on how we can deliver these savings, make efficiencies and meet customer demand for vital local services across Poole.”

Mr Carr has just been granted planning consent for an eight storey apartment complex overlooking Holes Bay and next to the RNLI.