Cheshire East's head of finance has warned councillors must be prepared to take tough decisions at the February budget meeting if the council is to balance its books.

The comments from executive director of resources Ashley Hughes, came after Cllr Rachel Bailey (Audlem, Con) questioned whether the council's leadership was aware of the 'dire financial situation' the authority was in.

Referring to a report to Monday's (September 29) meeting of the audit and governance committee, Cllr Bailey said: "We again have the same rhetoric that suggests that all councils are in this similar position to Cheshire East when I know, from my work with the LGA, that whilst the landscape is challenging, not all councils are in this position."

She said she believed other councils were 'in a far better position' than Cheshire East.

Mr Hughes replied: "You would be correct.

"We know it's challenging nationally, but there are other authorities who have gone through this work in the same way we have, who have come out in a much better place.

"So, we are more challenged financially. We've got £6 million in the general fund, £21 million in the earmarked reserves.

"That is not enough to be financially sustainable.

"So. the medium term financial strategy (MTFS) is to build those reserves back. That's why the gap that we've got in our budget is so big…

"We have to do that without the additional money that's put in here, exceptional financial support."

Cheshire East is forecasting a £3.1 million overspend this year, and that is in addition to the planned use of £25.3 million exceptional financial support agreed by the government.

Cllr Bailey continued: "How long would you envisage it to take for Cheshire East to return to a healthy financial position?"

Mr Hughes replied: "If we deliver our transformation planning in full… if we can deliver everything, I would expect a three-year plan in our MTFS to get out of using exceptional financial support.

"My aspiration as the CFO (chief finance officer) is to do this as quickly and safely as we can do, recognising that there will be difficult decisions that we will be asking members to make with full council in February."

Committee chair Michael Beanland (Poynton, Con) said: "We need to make sure that those difficult decisions come forward at pace.

"It definitely seems to be lacking at the moment."