THE leader of BCP Council said work to “get ahead” of financial challenges meant the local authority was not in “the same precarious position as many other councils”.

Cllr Drew Mellor issued a statement praising the efforts which had been made to balanced the budget for 2023/24.

The Conservative councillor said: “Everyone is having to tighten their belts at the moment, and the council is no different.

"Having worked hard to squeeze as many efficiencies out of the system as possible, we’re pleased to announce we have taken a projected finance gap for next year to a now projected surplus of £7.8m.

“To put this into some context, other local councils in the country, such as Hampshire and Cornwall, are facing black holes of over £200m and £60m over the next four years."

Cllr Mellor added: "Due to the financial grip of this Conservative administration, coupled with hard work our brilliant officer team, our budget is now balanced for 22/23 and our four-year gap is circa £9m, meaning we have one of the best positioned medium term financial projections of most upper tier councils in the country.

“We’ve still much work to do – and we call on the Government to provide help to local government to help us avoid some of the difficult decisions these hard times will inevitably have on some services, as we grapple with over £55m of cost of living and inflation related pressures over the 2022-2024 period.”