The Daily Echo can now reveal how Borough of Poole plans to make savings for the next three years.

The council has published its budget for the upcoming financial year as well as its Medium Term Financial Plan which covers until 2020.

In December the Echo revealed the cash-strapped council needed to find £2.7milllion worth of savings in just three months in order to balance its budget for 2017/18.

It has now done that and the final budget is set to go before full council for approval later this month.

One way the council has bridged the funding gap is by implementing a year-long pay increment freeze for all its staff saving half a million pounds.

The recent agreement to increase car parking tariffs across the borough has also led to “significant savings” which has helped the council balance its budget, say BOP.

And the decision to increase council tax by almost five per cent – including a three per cent rise in the ‘social care precept’ - has saved the council nearly £1m.

However now this year’s budget is set BOP is looking at how it will make savings over the next three years.

It comes at a time when grants from central Government are being slowly phased out and by 2020, authorities like Borough of Poole will be expected to raise all of its income through business rates and council tax hikes.

Poole council has published a list of assumed savings as part of its Medium Term Financial Plan.

It includes a saving of £20,000 from park gates opening and closing duties for this upcoming financial year.

According to the council staff schedules are being revised to avoid overtime payments so duties of locking and unlocking park gates are part of normal working hours.

The council has also earmarked £117,000 on ‘street scene open spaces maintenance’ which means lowering the borough’s tree planting budget as well as the loss of some seasonal posts.

The report also suggests savings of £12,000 on ‘street light dimming’.

From October this year allotment holders will see an increase in charges in an attempt to save £4,000 by the council. The current rent for an allotment plot is 66 pence per square metre which will rise to 74 pence per square metre.

Borough of Poole is also reducing its contribution to the Dorset Road Safety Partnership – saving the council another £12,000.

And some beach hut users will also be facing massive hikes of up to 74 per cent in their annual rent under the council’s ‘beach hut tariff harmonisation’ policy.

The new four-year pricing policy will bring in additional net revenue of £86k per annum by 2020, bringing the total to £2.34million.

It will also save the council £123,000 by 2020.

But, because of the process of pricing ‘harmonisation’, which involves cutting the number of price categories and upping the lower prices to the higher price point in each category - some beach hut users will see their rent go up by a fifth in just one year.

Site-only rentals at Hamworthy Park would increase from £638 per annum in this year, to £1,111 in four years’ time and the most expensive huts at Branksome Chine would increase from £2,687 this year, to £3,422 in 2020.

Other savings which have been identified include £12,000 from museums front of house. A council spokesman said the savings have been made through a “reduction in number of staff as a consequence of Tourism relocating from Enefco House.

“It has been achieved through a staff restructure, retirement, and reduction in casual staff with no redundancies,” he added.

And charging charities to dump waste at Nuffield Recycling Centre will save the council £10,000.

All charities, with retail presence in Poole, will have six free tips per annum, and anything beyond that number they will be charged.

Cllr May Haines, deputy leader of the council and portfolio holder for finance, said: "By 2020, 75 per cent of all the council’s spending will go towards funding adult and children’s services. This leaves less money to pay for universal services such as bin collections, libraries, parks and road maintenance.”

“In recent months, the council has had to make some tough decisions on services and changes to some fees and charges.

“Proposing a rise in Council Tax is also a difficult decision, but it is one which we are compelled to make in order to maintain services now and put the council’s budget on a sound and sustainable footing in anticipation of when all government funding is withdrawn by 2020.

“We are committed to setting a responsible budget that is less reliant on using one-off reserves to achieve a balanced position. However, the council is still spending more on services than the income it receives.

“Therefore, it is vital we reach a sustainable budget position where the available funds match the true costs of providing services.”