County council to spend £25 million to save £100 million

Its cabinet will consider on Tuesday a package of measures, ranging from highways schemes to property investments in a bid to cut costs and generate income.

Deputy council leader Councillor Byron Rhodes said: “We’ve saved £135 million over the last six years and have to save a further £100 million over the next five years.

“To help us to achieve this, we’re proposing a series of investments, using an underspend and some earmarked funds.”

The council is on track to underspend by £15.6m this year, due to the early achievement of savings. It is proposed that the money will be used for a range of schemes that will help to cut costs in the future, including vehicle replacement (£1m), highways maintenance (£5m), asset investments (£5m), invest to save schemes (£3.6m) and energy schemes (£1m).

The council is also proposing to invest £10m from earmarked funds into property investment funds, that offer a higher return on an investment than alternatives, because interest rates are so low.