Hundreds face axe at council

HUNDREDS of jobs are at risk at a Yorkshire council after the new chief executive warned that the Government's swingeing public sector cutbacks will hit his authority hard.

By The Newsroom

Published 18th Jun 2010, 12:01 BST

Updated 18th Jun 2010, 12:01 BST

Richard Flinton, who takes up the top job at North Yorkshire County Council next month, admitted that transport and children's services will be hardest hit, although he was adamant that education will not suffer.

The Government announced last week that its grant to the council will be slashed by almost 11m as part of the drive to reduce the national deficit.

A range of options is being compiled by senior managers, which will then be presented to councillors to decide where the cuts should be imposed.

"We already run a very tight operation. It is a difficult task," Mr Flinton said.

He stressed that the number of redundancies will not be known until the review is finished, but it is likely that there will be several hundred job losses.