DRASTIC action needs to be taken to stop Bury's finances "falling off a cliff", councillors have warned.

But while Bury Council has delayed the budgeted £11.3 million worth of savings this year, town hall chiefs have reassured councillors that every effort is being made to get back on track.

The council's cabinet was told last week that as well as delaying the savings, an overspend of more than £3.5 million is expected.

Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, who presented the report to the committee, said: “Any overspend is a cause for concern, but we have time throughout the year to bring that overspend down. We continually review the budget plans.”

Conservative group leader Cllr James Daly took issue with the figures saying it was “scandalous” that the council lacked a plan for a sizeable overspend.

The council will need to make more than £17 million of savings by the end of its three-year budget period which finishes next year.

He said: “I think this council’s finances are going to fall off a cliff edge unless something drastic happens. I don’t think there’s any chance from what we have said tonight that we will make £17 million worth of savings.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Cllr Tim Pickstone also raised concerns about financial sustainability, saying that the council seems to be heading towards a crisis.

In response, the council leader sarcastically said: “Fear not councillor, it’s the end of austerity.”

Cllr Rishi Shori explained that local authorities across the country are in a financially unsustainable position, but placed his hope in extra funding announced for the NHS relieving demand pressures.

Last month, Chancellor Phillip Hammond announced a £20.5 billion boost for the NHS in England by 2023.

The council leader said that the social care problem needs to be tackled, but this year, the council will have to continue using reserves as it did last year.

Cllr O’Brien agreed that the recent budget announcement was encouraging and added that the council needs to also deliver on growth and development.

He defended the council’s track record of making savings noting that despite a projected overspend of nearly £3.5 million last year, the actual overspend was reduced to less than £1 million.

A report on the second quarter of this financial year projects an overspend of £3.589 million which is 2.6 per cent of the net budget.

Cllr Shori added that savings of £18 million were made by a reduction in council staffing of 565 people, with £10 million of that coming from cuts to senior management.

He said: “We need to redouble and retriple our efforts to make these savings. We are not arguing the fact that we have not been able to make some of the savings.”