A CASH-strapped council is looking to find almost £840,000 in savings, as it moves into the final quarter of the financial year.

Carlisle City Council needs to identify £2m worth of savings overall, but has already found £1.2m towards the total.

However, this leaves it with £837,000 still to find.

The cash to plug the shortfall in savings target looks set to come from council underspend – areas where the council has spent less than it had forecast.

Les Tickner, deputy leader and financial portfolio holder, set out the authority’s budget position at a meeting of the ruling executive.

He said: “If you exclude the savings requirements, we are within £5,000 of what we expected to spend at the end of December.

“However, when you include the requirement for services for the period there is a variance there of £1m.

“We do have just over £2m worth of savings.

“We have identified £1.2m. We still have £837,000 to identify, achieve and deliver so if there are any underspends at the end of this financial year, in the first instance they will be used to cover the shortfall in our savings targets.”

Figures highlighted in the council’s revenue budget report included a £175,000 deficit on the Lanes shopping centre, and an overspend on payments to the Tullie House Trust of £62,200 for ICT services.

The council also received £275,000 pay-out as part of a ‘dilapidations settlement’ on Castle Street.

The authority’s capital programme expenditure – what the council spends on improving its assets – site at a little more than £4m, an underspend of £671,000.

The budget will be discussed at a full meeting of the city council next week.

Earlier this month, council leaders were asked to re-think their budget following calls for more manpower to keep the streets clean.

An amendment proposed by Independent councillor Robert Betton - and unanimously approved - asked for two more environmental officers to tackle the scourge of fly-tipping and dog-fouling costing £60,000.