Massive savings of £4.4 million are close to being achieved by Tendring District Council (TDC) ahead of schedule and with money to invest in the District.

Leader Neil Stock told a meeting of the Full Council tonight that the authority is also able to deliver a 0.5 per cent Council Tax reduction for residents for the second year running.

He said that the savings - while continuing to maintain frontline services - had been an "All Council Affair".

Cllr Stock added that the speed at which the savings have been made means there will be £3 million to invest to protect the coastline; plans in the pipeline to develop Clacton's Atlanta Café into an iconic building and funding would be available for the Jaywick Neighbourhood Team.

An extra £500,000 is also being provided to support planning enforcement.

"I must pay tribute to all the senior management staff who have engaged in the reorganisation of the Council with professionalism and commitment," said Cllr Stock.

"We will continue to deliver further savings as well as reshaping the organisation to be as lean and efficient as possible whilst still providing high quality services and achieving affordable excellence for our tax payer."

He also paid tribute to all staff at TDC who had embraced the efficiency agenda.

"There really is a culture now where every penny spent is questioned and staff have worked hard to look at how they can deliver within tighter budgets," he added.

Cllr Stock promised that there would be no reductions in services as a result of the 2012/13 budget which was agreed tonight by 36 votes to 17.

However, he warned that there were still significant challenges ahead to be faced and the Local Government Finance Bill, currently going through Parliament, would have further implications.

As well as this the Chancellor has indicated that there will be further reductions in public sector funding in both 2015/16 and 2016/17.

"The period of austerity is not over," he emphasized." However, this is a sound budget that puts us in a good position to face the coming years.

"Whilst investing in our key priorities we remain focused on controlling our costs.

"Having said that there are increasing opportunities to move forward on important issues for the District and we must continue to engage with the Government and other partners to take advantage of these opportunities."

Cllr Stock added that this considerable success had been achieved against the biggest reductions in public sector funding for a generation.

7/2/12