TORY councillors forced through Cheshire West and Chester Council's £700m spending plans for 2011/12, with a zero increase in council tax, despite Lib Dem claims that it was not right to spend taxpayers money making staff redundant.

The decision came at the end of a four hour budget setting council meeting in Winsford.

Resources supremo and deputy leader of the authority, Cllr Les Ford, (Con, Frodsham and Helsby) pointed out that since the council had been created it had saved £56m in costs and had reinvested £11m in front line services.

Following the Government’s comprehensive spending review, the authority had been hit by a higher than expected cut in grant and had to save almost £26m over the next two years.

Despite the setbacks, the budget earmarked almost £115m to provide leisure and culture facilities across the borough in the first phase of its 10 year capital vision. There were also priority investments of more than £7m in children's services and more than £5m in adult social care and health.

Almost £4m would be taken from reserves to cover redundancy costs with around 140 jobs, 2.5% of the work force, expected to go.

For the Lib Dems, Chester councillor Cllr Bob Thompson (Hoole and Newton) believed it could not be right to spend taxpayers’ money making staff redundant and said: “We would make the money go further.”

Labour finance spokesman Cllr Justin Madders (Central and Westminster) insisted the last 12 months had been ‘littered with a massive financial misjudgments’.