Council savings 'too ambitious'

The council is trying to save millions of pounds

Aberdeen City Council's deputy leader has admitted some of the �50m savings targeted by the local authority this year were too ambitious.

Kevin Stewart was speaking at the latest meeting of the city council's budget monitoring committee.

It heard that millions of pounds of potential cuts in social work are now unlikely to be met this year.

Savings of 5% for next year are also now being sought, which it was claimed could amount to about �20m.

Mr Stewart told BBC Scotland: "Officers gave elected members numbers which were too ambitious to achieve.

"We have looked for savings in other areas during the course of the year.

"These will be made but they will be made over a longer period of time."

First day

Voluntary groups in the city have predicted they will bear the brunt of further council cuts.

Aberdeen City Council said it could not yet predict the exact effect.

Mr Stewart said raising the council tax was not a solution.

The task of setting next year's budget was described as "daunting" in a draft council document seen by BBC Scotland.

Meanwhile, the city's new chief executive Sue Bruce, currently chief executive at East Dunbartonshire Council, will spend her first day behind her desk on Monday 1 December.

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