Savings of more than £500,000 have been found by Thanet District Council, after soaring utility and fuel costs and other price rises left the council facing a budget shortfall.

Amongst the issues faced by the council is a rise in its electricity charges of 63% so far this year, but the council has also been hit by the rising cost of fuel, as the council uses a range of vehicles to provide essential front line services, including refuse trucks, street cleaning machines and ride on mowers.

Along with the rising cost of wheeled bins, which are made from oil based products, and reducing income, particularly in areas such as land charges, this left the council with a budget shortfall of £544,000.

Since this was identified, officers were tasked with identifying savings to close this gap.

A report to the council’s cabinet detailed how these savings would be found, with a number of posts within the council to be held vacant to save on costs.

A number of items within the council’s Corporate Plan, which sets out the council’s work plan until 2011, have also been removed to save money. These include work towards Green Flag awards for the area’s parks, providing secure cycle parking at local stations and limiting health awareness campaigns to just one in the year, rather than two.

Cllr Martin Wise, cabinet member for finance, improvement and customer service, said: "Our officers have worked exceptionally hard to bridge the gap that we had been left by the impact of the credit crunch. It’s testament to them that they have managed to find savings of more than £500,000. That’s no mean feat. Unfortunately, it is likely to be a case of ‘more of the same’ over the coming months, as we work towards our budget for 2009/10. With inflation pressures and a low grant settlement from government, we are going to have a tough time in balancing our budget, but I have no doubt that it’s a challenge we will again be able to rise to, although it will mean taking a series of difficult decisions to do it."