THE council's new approach to set its budget for the year has been tipped to deliver a longer-term financial strategy.

As declared in last September's scrutiny committee meeting, an Outcome Based Budgeting plan was decided to ensure the council can sustain the level of savings require while maintaining services.

It will mean that the budget will be set for the year ahead at an earlier date, in comparison to previous times.

Stronger investment for the future has also been pinpointed to allow the council to 'capitalise' on the current economic circumstances.

"We needed to change the process and had to introduce the Outcome Based Budget," said cllr Russ Bowden, executive member for corporate resources and assignments.

"It will help identify solutions to achieve what is needed and to balance the budget in an informed way.

"A lot of difficult questions have been asked."

Along with government funding adjustments, pressures to allow services to continue is clear to see, but cllr Bowden believes plans are in place to ensure limited damage, although admitting it has been a testing period.

"Officers of the council, and no doubt councillors and residents, just see the agenda and say it has been been gloomy," he added.

He added: "It is not good for us to be just thinking about cuts so I wanted to change that and really see where we are heading financially.

"It is important to see what opportunities there are for us, in terms of trying to be creative and innovative."