COUNCILLORS in Teesdale have been given a stark pre-Christmas warning to tighten their purse strings.

Members of Teesdale District Council were told in a report by district auditor David Parkin and audit manager Gavin Barker that the council's balances were in a very poor state.

It said: "Urgent steps are needed to improve the council's overall financial position. Unforeseen issues have arisen and working balances are insufficient to deal with them."

Members heard that the council's general fund, which stood at £179,000 at the end of March, was expected to fall to £35,000 by the end of next March - a third of what was expected.

Councillor Newton Wood said: "Members and officers continue to run this council as a corner shop, and not as a business."

Sian Hansom, who has been the council's director of finance since July, said: "There is much to be learnt from the auditors' report, and members will have to realise that they cannot just keep using their reserves.

"I have tried to bang this message home to members, and hopefully the tone of this audit will startle them into taking notice. We have to work together to achieve respectable balances."