SOUTHEND Council is trying to plug a £15.5million hole in its budget – despite having £11million set aside for a rainy day.

Urgent calls have now been made for the council to dig deep into its reserves to save services and jobs.

More than 100 council staff members face redundancy following the savage cuts announced earlier this week.

Independent group leader Martin Terry said: “We could use that reserve money to save job losses or minimise the impact on frontline services.

“I’m particularly worried about the cuts and job losses in youth services, which will hit our young people hard. It’s the last thing we want.”

Ian Gilbert, the town’s Labour group leader, added: “It will be galling for those made redundant and residents who will lose their services to know that we have about £11million in the bank.

“I think it’s something the council should be looking at.”

Mr Gilbert backed Tory Local Government Secre-tary Eric Pickles who feels councils should use their reserves in the short term to address “immediate financial challenges”.

He added: “Mr Pickles said councils should draw down on their reserves to give themselves time to make long-term readjustments, yet Southend Council is not doing that.”

However, Tory council leader Nigel Holdcroft described such calls as “reckless”.

He said: “We are not an authority with a large reserve pot. It is there for emergencies and will continue to be held for emergencies.

“The possibility of unreasonable pressure on the budget increases with the financial situation at the moment.

“This is not a time to play around with the reserve pot.”

Yet Mr Terry insisted the council had to look at the bigger picture.

He added: “It’s certainly worth thinking about.

“There is a legitimate case to say if our budget has dropped ten per cent, why can’t we take a similar proportion out of our reserves?

“It means we could give a bit more back to home carers and youth services.

“We have to keep some reserves, but we shouldn’t have a closed mind about it.”

Mr Terry said the idea had been suggested during the cross-party budget talks last autumn.