AN "Efficiency Plan" of spending cuts has been passed by Bromsgrove District councillors, to repay a £750,000 debt to central government.

Bromsgrove was one of just a few councils across the country to have its revenue support cut below zero earlier this year, which has resulted in a 'negative grant' that the council will reluctantly pay before 2020.

The Efficiency Plan outlines the council's intended spending cuts and income growth over the next four years to make the necessary savings, and was required by central government to enable a four year financial settlement to be secured.

The plan was presented to Bromsgrove District councillors at a meeting at Parkside on September 21, but was deferred after councillors complained that the figures were not presented clearly enough.

Further detail about the council's estimated income, growth and savings were added, and the updated statement was presented to full council on Thursday, triggering arguments between Conservative and Labour members.

The plan outlines how the council intends to save £5,583,000 by 2020, which would enable it to cope with the expected loss of just under half the council's budget.

The spending cuts include a saving of £307,000 through the removal of waste processes from services, deleting vacant posts and realigning management and staffing structures.

A previous reduction in the number of Bromsgrove District Councillors and the associated drop in expenses is expected to save £44,000.

The council is expecting to save a further £528,000 in income from the new leisure centre, on top of £150,000 in business rates from a "regeneration" of the town centre.

A total of £1million is set to be used from council reserves, and another million from the council's balances.

But leader of the Labour Group Cllr Luke Mallett said the plan was "rubbish", and would leave Bromsgrove District Council "walking towards the end of a cliff with a blindfold on".

He said: "Any plan about savings, you would expect the council to be in a better position at the end of the four years than at the start, but the council will be using more from reserves than it does now. The council has just over £3million in reserves, and that plan will see them halving over four years, with the pace of reduction increasing. At a certain point there will be no reserves left and this will see local services cut."

Cllr Steve Colella, a member of the Finance and Budget Working Group who drew up the Efficiency Plan, said: "It had to be done and we had to get it through the door.

"Those numbers represent a target and what I didn't want to do was overstate the possibilities of efficiency and not achieve them. What we would prefer to do is say that these are the minimum savings that we can do but I would hope that we can actually better them. My fear is not necessarily our position in 2019 to 2020 - it's the years beyond that. If we carry on as we are the district council would be bankrupt."

When asked if these audacious saving plans could be done, council leader Geoff Denaro said: "I hope so.

"I think it's achievable but we have to do a lot of work on the other side in income. I hope, for residents, that we will be able to continue services without making financial demands on them. We can still maintain our services and these are the ways and means we are going to do that."