Savings of nearly £1.5m were made by Swale council last year.

The authority budgeted to spend more than £17.5m on services in 2011/12.

But figures due to be considered by the council’s cabinet todayjuly 4 revealed the council spent just over £16.1m last year, saving £1,486,200.

Tory finance chief Cllr Duncan Dewar-Whalley said: “For the last three years we have been looking at being far more efficient with our finances.

“We’ve been forced to because of the recession. There has been a change of approach throughout the council whereby there’s caution now in spending money.”

As well as the savings, the council has also received a VAT refund of £422,190.

Despite the windfall, Cllr Dewar-Whalley warned it would not result in a spending spree.

He said: “We need to make sure we have plenty of money in reserve to cover ourselves for major projects in the borough.”

He suggested the money could be needed to ensure the progress of the regeneration of Sittingbourne.

“If we didn’t have the finances to do it, quite frankly we would have egg on our faces.”