Budget proposals at Peterborough City Council pass with zero votes against

Cllr Wayne Fitzgrrald introducing the budget for the cabinet in the absence of Cllr David Seaton

Councillors last night approved measures from the Conservative cabinet which include setting up separate parking and environmental crime enforcement teams.

Other measures include:

. Resurfacing entire roads instead of repairing patches which will save an estimated Â£220,000 a year

. Sharing staff with Cambridgeshire County Council and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority which is expected to save thousands of pounds a year

. Not using first class postage apart from in "exceptional circumstances" which will save Â£35,000 a year

. Saving an expected Â£100,000 from allowing people to pay to fast track their planning application and increasing pre-application planning fees

. Collecting an extra Â£380,000 from increased council tax and business rates collections

. Setting aside an extra Â£194,000 a year after a "rapid increase" in demand for the Peterborough integrated sexual health and contraception service (iCASH) in Priestgate

. Saving more than Â£1 million a year than previously forecast due to preventing homelessness.

The budget proposals were approved with 32 votes for, 21 abstentions and no votes against.

There are currently 59 city councillors of which 30 are Conservatives, 14 from Labour and seven Liberal Democracts. The rest are from Werrington First (3), Independent (2) and UKIP, Liberal Party and Green Party (one each).

Voting was recorded electronically.

Not all councillors were present at the meeting.The council is setting its 2019/20 budget in three stages so savings can be implemented early, rather than having to wait until April 2019.

The council - which has seen its main government grant reduced by 80 per cent in the last seven years - is forecasting a deficit of Â£12.7 million in 2019/20.

The measures announced so far will reduce that to Â£10.2 million.