Walsall Council cutting another £7.7m from budget

Another £7.7 million has been cut from Walsall Council's budget this year, it was revealed today - bringing the total reduction for 2010/11 to £22m.

The extra drop in government funding also means the reduction for 2010/11 is the largest in the borough's history.

Another £1m will be saved across education services through contract changes, while departments will be hit with recruitment freezes and reduced hours for staff.

Eleven jobs will be shed, although bosses say they have tried to protect workers. But the New Art Gallery will now close on Mondays - as it did for the first eight years after it opened - and a series of road improvements and construction schemes will be shelved.

Council leader Mike Bird said: "While people might be inconvenienced by decisions like the one to close the art gallery again on Monday, it means not losing jobs, which we feel is the most important thing.

"The reductions are area based in many cases, so the government is effectively telling us where to make the cuts."

Finance chief Councillor Chris Towe said the council's workers were its biggest asset.

"We need to have people to deliver the services," he said. Other cuts include the shelving of plans for a new public toilet in Bloxwich and a cycle link in Clayhanger.