'Difficult day' for Nottingham as jobs put at risk weeks before Christmas

But Coun David Mellen (Lab), says it reflects the ‘serious situation’ the city and authority is now in following a string of financial problems.

A report published ahead of anexecutive board meeting on December 19 reveals the Labour-run council is facing a £53m gap in its budget for the next financial year, starting in April.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Coun Mellen said: “This is a difficult day for Nottingham and a difficult day for people who, a week before Christmas, are going to have their jobs put at risk and many of them will have worked for the city council faithfully for many years.

“This is not something, as the leader of the council, I want to do.

"Equally there are going to be potential reductions to services out there in our communities which will be difficult for people who rely on them.

“We want people to give us their views and I am sure we will get plenty of views this is not something that people want us to do.

"But we have a legal duty to balance the budget and therefore we will have to make difficult decisions in February.”

The potential job losses mean around one in 10 positions will be cut from a workforce of over 6,000.

Alongside these, the council has detailed proposals to permanently close city centre water features, review its libraries and community centres, cut bus services and cease grant funding to voluntary groups, including lunch clubs.

The authority further plans to raise an additional £7m by hiking council tax by five per cent.

However the proposals will only save the council £33.2m out of the £53m gap.

Coun Mellen continued: “The proposals that we are consulting on don’t actually meet the current budget gap, but that budget gap moves around and it will be affected by a number of things.

“One is the fact inflation is going down, the second is next week the Government will announce the local government settlement and we will be able to find out how much extra money we are getting.

“Equally the restrictions that are in place in-year might well have a knock-on effect to the gap next year.

"There is no good in pretending this is anything other than a serious situation for Nottingham.”

Adults and children who are the ‘most vulnerable’ will still be protected.

However, other services facing potential cuts include ones which affect other people who really need the council’s help.

Coun Mellen said: “We will need to work with the voluntary sector and others to see where that help can come from.

"Sadly, we are proposing in these plans to cut the grants which we give to the voluntary sector which won’t help them in the slightest.”

The GMB Union, which represents some council staff, warned Nottingham has already been ‘cut to the bone’.

Adana Godden, GMB organiser, said: “After decades of austerity, our city is already cut to the bone with vital services across Nottingham struggling with staff shortages.

“GMB members keep Nottingham running and our priority in the coming weeks will be defending them, their jobs and conditions.”