Wiltshire Council has passed its budget, which will see its tax precept frozen for the fourth consecutive year.

The budget was approved at County Hall this morning by 74 votes to five, with a total of seven abstentions.

As part of the budget £500,000 was due to be cut from the council’s youth services funding, which would have seen all the county’s youth clubs axed and 140 job losses.

However a compromise amendment tabled by the Liberal Democrats to only cut £250,000 was accepted.

Around £100,000 of the required savings would be made from printing paperwork for councillors, along with an efficiency review of youth club premises aimed at saving £125,000 and £25,000 from the councillors’ development fund being invested.

Jane Scott, leader of Wiltshire Council said: “This has been a challenging budget to set but I’m pleased we have yet again been able to freeze council tax.

"The ongoing reduction in central government funding combined with increased demand has meant that once again we have had to take an innovative approach to ensure that we can continue to provide vital front line services for the people of Wiltshire.

“We will continue to do whatever we can to lessen the impact on these vital services and to protect those who are most vulnerable in our communities.

"The county has recently seen the impact of the recent adverse weather and we need to support those communities that were directly affected and to invest significantly to maintain and improve our roads.

"Our local communities remain at the heart of every decision we make and we recognise what’s important to them in allocating the budget.”