TODAY'S (Thursday's) budget meeting will hear how Preston Borough Council can save more than £1.3 million in the next financial year.

The authority's finance boss Councillor Ian Hall will announce details of the Labour Pary's cost-cutting plans, which include saving £40,000 by closing all public toilets outside the town centre, except for Waverley Park.

Coun Hall added: "It has been a very tough, and in some respects a painful, exercise this year to produce savings of more than £1.3 million, mostly through efficiency savings. There will be no cuts to the concessionary fares budget.

"But a poorer than expected grant settlement from the government means that we are reluctantly proposing to have a 5.2 per cent increase in council tax to protect our most important services."

Some proposed savings will be made from the closure of Open House, a service which Coun Hall believes is being duplicated in the area. Other savings made in Labour's proposed budget include redundancies in the architects and engineers division and not filling vacant document officer and sports development officer posts.

The budget includes provision for refuse collection on Bank Holiday Mondays, cash for better access to the Town Hall and Harris Museum and the creation of a town centre manager's post.

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