ABOUT 300 jobs are expected to be lost at a Tees council as part of a package of cuts.

Stockton Borough Council has already taken out 600 posts in the last four years and now expect to shed another 300 by 2016/17.

Other proposals to also cut services to children, libraries, leisure and street cleaning from next year's budget in order to begin saving £18m will be considered in the coming weeks.

The authority estimates the Government grant to Stockton council, which makes up about half of its income, will have been cut by 58 per cent from 2010/11 to 2016/17 which adds up to about £40m.

About £22m has already been taken out leaving £18m still to be cut.

At the same time some costs are going up, including an estimated £7m combined increase to pay for children’s care, adult care, customer services and energy bills. The number of children coming into authority care has increased by 50 per cent since the economic downturn, an 180 per cent increase in the over-85 is expected by 2036 and major benefits payments reform has already led to a 70 per cent increase in customer service enquires.

However, Stockton South’s conservative MP James Wharton has called of the authority to take a radical approach to spending.

The council will consider cuts in the following areas in the coming months ahead of the 2014 budget.

*Back office functions, including IT services, human resources and law and democracy services, saving £3.5m.

*Street cleaning and highways maintenance as well as horticulture for events like Britain in Bloom, saving £500m.

*Careers advice to youngsters in schools and colleges for careers advice and Connexions, which provides advice and support to teenagers, saving £240,000.

*Cutting subsidies to bus companies to provide unprofitable routes, saving £300m.

*Non-statutory school transport.

*Money paid to Tees Active for leisure services, like swimming pools.

*Libraries, including closing Thornaby Westbury Street and Roseworth library buildings and moving the service into existing council buildings.

Admission charges for Preston Hall Museum and other civic amenities will rise, if the proposals are accepted. The planetarium near Wynyard is under threat of closure.

Stockton’s powerful cabinet committee will begin considering the cuts on Thursday, May 16.

Bob Cook, Labour leader of the council, said the authority was committed to protecting the most vulnerable and was talking to workers about the cuts. He said: “We will attempt to minimise the damage but we have to be honest and open from day one and won’t hide from anyone the seriousness of the situation.”

Conservative MP James Wharton defended the government cuts while calling on the authority to take a different approach to the challenges ahead.

He said: “Stockton Council is spending very significant sums of money on our High Street, North Shore, new primary school construction and a range of other schemes. At the same time some community services, which cost relatively little to run, are feeling the pinch.

“These are decisions taken by local Councillors to focus money on big projects but if a little more attention were given to daily services it could have meant we would not be seeing the extent of change we are.

“The Council should now think radically. We do not need to have 56 Borough Councillors; Hartlepool has only recently cut its number by a third which brought significant savings. We could reduce the number of councillors, make minor changes to large schemes and save enough to properly protect local services.

“No one denies that the national spending environment is tough but actually in Stockton the Council seems to do ever less whilst spending ever more. With some of the highest Council Tax rises in the country over the past two years many residents are starting to wonder what on earth this Labour-led Council is playing at.”