DESPITE a forecast budget overspend of almost three-quarters of a million pounds, members of Bournemouth council’s cabinet say they are confident they will balance the books this year.

The council’s monthly budget monitoring report for July predicts that the council will be £710,000 over-budget with almost half of the extra spend in its adult social care budget.

Discussing the report at Tuesday’s meeting of the cabinet, the council’s deputy leader, Cllr Nicola Greene, said that some opportunities for savings had yet to come through.

The biggest portion of council overspending relates to “delays in achieving the full extent of savings” predicted to be made by the county’s social care partnership Tricuro.

The tightening of waste recycling controls in China has also led to the council spending £200,000 more than expected in its environment department.

Cllr Greene, deputy leader of the council, said: “We are one-third of the way through the financial year so some savings opportunities have yet to come through.

“This time last year we were forecasting a £3.4m overspend and managed to meet our budget in the end.

“However, every year the challenge of delivering savings becomes more and more challenging.”