A COUNCIL is looking at stark choices as it attempts to find another £56m in savings.

Increased parking charges, introducing a 20p charge to use the toilets in the town's bus station and a review of CCTV services are among the cost cuts that Middlesbrough Council is investigating as it prepares its strategic plan for the next three years.

The local authority has already seen its budget slashed by more than £80m, with the loss of more than 700 jobs over the last five years.

So far there has been no indication of how many jobs might go in its strategic plan for 2016-17 but the council is looking at a potential two per cent increase in council tax.

The proposed cuts are in response to the Government’s drive to reduce public sector spending, and the £56m savings are to made from an estimated annual budget of around £120m.

Middlesbrough Mayor Dave Budd said: “The savage cuts imposed by Government on this and other local authorities have seen our budget cut by more than £80 million over the last five years, with the loss of more than 700 jobs.

“That has necessitated a completely new approach to the way we operate to enable us to deliver the frontline services people want within the resources available to us.

“I have worked closely with officers to develop a three-year medium-term strategy which will allow us to introduce a great degree of transformational change across the authority.

“This approach has enabled us to produce a balanced budget for the next three financial years, while significantly reducing the level of service cuts compared with previous years.

“A great deal of hard work has gone into ensuring we remain on a stable financial footing, and this budget makes that possible for the coming years.

“The Government’s cuts continue at an unnecessary and damaging level, but we remain determined to protect and transform vital serves in the face of such unreasonable challenges.”

Other costcutting initiatives on the agenda are the possible re-designating the Southlands Centre as a commercially-owned and operated business centre; removal of the warning notice at the Newport bus lane enforcement zone; and the merger of civil enforcement and street officer teams.

Further detail on the Government’s local government financial settlement will be provided to the authority later in December following Chancellor George Osborne’s Comprehensive Spending Review announced this week.

Briefings will be given to the Council’s various political groups during December and January, with a final report on the 2016-17 budget due to be presented a meeting of full Council in March.