MAKING savings in council budgets ought not to be the sole aim of the new Dorset Council – according to one councillor.

Cllr Cherry Brooks told the county audit and overview committee (on Monday) that there was no point in making savings in the Dorset Waste Partnership budget when some parts of the area were ‘knee deep in litter.”

She said the aim of the new Dorset Council, which started work on April 1st, must also be to improve standards.

“The aim should be not just to cut budgets but to transform services…the Dorset Waste Partnership is forecasting an underspend, but what is the point when we are knee deep in litter…we need to make sure we are doing the job properly, not just saving money,” she said.

Committee chairman, Cllr David Harris, echoed the concern about doing the job, not just saving money. He said one of the reasons the Dorset County Council was likely to finish the financial year with a balanced budget was because it had not filled a number of vacancies over six months:“As a consequence of that there may have been work which has not been done,” he said.

The committee heard that it was now calculated that £5.7million of the county council target of making £18.8 million in savings might not be achieved by the end of March.