Gloucestershire County Council told to save £6.5m

Gloucestershire County Council has been told to cut its budget by £6.5m as part of the government's bid to reduce the UK deficit.

The largest cut is £2.63m from the education Area Based Grant (ABG), which provides funding for schools.

Other areas to face a reduction are road safety and integrated transport.

Council leader Mark Hawthorne it was too early to say what impact the cuts would have on specific services.

"We've got to do our bit in helping to reduce the national debt and that means starting the job this year," he said.

"I think the reassurance we can give to local residents is that we've already started work on looking at making savings.

"The money we've been asked to save as part of that national programme is something that we are ready for and prepared for and that we'll be looking at over the next couple of months."

Last month, Chancellor George Osborne announced that local authorities would be expected to save £1.165bn as their contribution to the new coalition government's £6.2bn budget deficit cuts.