RESIDENTS can determine how to spend £122 million of Redcar and Cleveland Council's budget.

The authority has set up a budget simulator as part of a consultation process to give people an insight into controlling the authority's purse strings.

The Council's Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources Councillor Peter Scott said: "This gives a fascinating insight into just how a budget is put into place.

"We believe we're getting our sums right, but it's always important to canvas opinion, and this is certainly an innovative way of doing that."

When anyone logs on to council's website there is a direction to the 'budget simulator' based on last year's budget.

The programme takes you through all the service areas, with details of the budget demands for each area, ranging from services for children and young people and the care of older people to tackling antisocial behaviour, regeneration and transport.

Councillor Scott said: "Of course, this is a light-hearted exercise, but it's got a serious side, too, getting the public's ideas on spending.

"We've had a successful initial consultation period and now this will provide us with more interesting information and we hope the public can enjoy the experience.

"We'll certainly be using the feedback before Cabinet meet to make its proposals for the Council Tax-setting in March."

To try out the simulator log on to redcar-cleveland.gov.uk