PROPOSALS to save more than £1m on Burnley Council budget have been outlined after bosses revealed a massive projected overspend.

Arts and leisure services and parks were set to be hardest hit by the cuts with bosses told to slash more than £300,000 from spending plans for 2003/04.

The arts and leisure department must find £146,884 and parks £174,187. Also hit are likely to be support and member services, told to cut £118,039 and information services £108,633.

In total the savings required, outlined at a meeting of the council's executive this week are £1,115,494.

Last week the Lancashire Evening Telegraph revealed that voluntary groups were also fearing the worst after the borough council announced it was to withdraw funding.

Council leader Stuart Caddy said savings would have to be made over the next three years. He said: "There will inevitably be difficult decisions ahead of us.

"However, our priority is to ensure that we give Burnley residents the best possible value for money services."

Coun Rafique Malik blamed the £1million gap in funding on an increase in spending on parks.

"Our budget has 37 percent of resources allocated to parks and open spaces, when the national average is somewhere in the region of 17 per cent."

Burnley MP Peter Pike said: "I know the council are having difficulty. They do, in my view, get a raw deal from the government."