Lancashire County Council has announced it is investing millions in highways, social care and the environment while still delivering an inflation-beating council tax increase.

Council bosses pledged to save even more money, with £859,000 being carved from the budget on top of £8.6m efficiencies already planned. This brings the savings total to £9.5m without reducing frontline services.

An extra £11m for highways over the next three years, an additional £4.5m for older people’s care and a £2.5m boost for waste and recycling proposed by the Cabinet last month were confirmed at the full council meeting.

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The announcement that council tax will be kept to 2.95 percent comes shortly after the authority topped government performance tables for the fourth year running and retained its four star status.

County Cllr Anne Brown, Cabinet Member for Resources and Performance, said: “This budget is good news for everyone in Lancashire. We are putting more money into the services that are most important to people while keeping council tax firmly in check.

“Strong financial management over recent years has allowed us to protect services and become more efficient as an organisation. I’m delighted we can now invest even more in the things that people really value such as care for both our older people and vulnerable youngsters, highways and the environment."

Work to further streamline the way the council operates will continue with a £500,000 investment to fund a team of project managers and business analysts to push ahead with projects and make sure savings are delivered. The investment aims to save a further £10m each year.

(CD)