Medway Council has cut nearly 140 jobs as it attempts to close a £12 million funding gap.

Council chiefs were putting the final touches to spending plans this week, which some have argued have been the most difficult for years after the government slashed the council’s grant by £15 million.

Portfolio holder for finance Cllr Alan Jarrett announced where they had found the cash to bridge a final £247,000 hole – £220,000 in government funding for welfare support; a £20,000 cut to public rights of way spending; and £7,000 extra income from parking charges.

A Medway Council spokesman said: “We are consulting with 16 people with the likely outcome of eight posts being made redundant out of our 3,000-plus staff.”

In total, a much greater number of posts have been deleted from the budget, with a total of 137 full-time posts affected.

Most of these were vacated posts that had not been filled due to the council’s recruitment freeze, while 48 CCTV staff on the council payroll will be transferred to an external company to do the same job.

Speaking at this week’s cabinet meeting, Cllr Jarrett was at pains to point out that “had we not suffered that level of resources reduction our problems would be a lot less than they currently are”.

But he also looked for positives – particularly in the strength of the Medway business community, pointing to a growth in baseline funding for business rates of £800,000.

He said: “That shows the business community in Medway is vibrant. It’s alive and well. The majority of the Medway economy is driven by small to medium-sized enterprises. They provide the bedrock of the economy.

“That figure is a vote of confidence in what we’re doing in Medway, in supporting the business community.”

His sentiment is backed by the council’s continued pursuit of the £4.4 million project to redevelop Rochester Airport – a government-funded project approved by the council’s planning committee last week and something it believes will further bolster business in Medway.

Opponents insist it is a “vanity project” and an example of misplaced spending priorities.

Labour’s community spokesman Cllr Glyn Griffiths said the airport project showed “just how out of touch the Tories are both locally and nationally”.

He added: “For their colleagues in government to approve the hard paving of Rochester airport’s runway at the cost of £4.4 million whilst rejecting improvements to Chatham and Strood stations, improvements which would have brought about much needed regeneration, is beyond belief.

"We surveyed close to a thousand residents in Medway late last year and asked them what they would spend £4.4 million of taxpayer’s money on in the community.

“The results we received... unearthed no support whatsoever for taxpayers’ money to be spent on concreting over a runway. What it did unearth, however, was the need for better local roads, cleaner streets and more money to be put into fixing potholes.”