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MORE than 30 jobs are due to be axed at Worcester City Council as part of a controversial plan to save £2.2 million.

Council tax is due to rise almost three per cent, car parking prices will be frozen and automatic number plate recognition could be used to catch rule-breaking drivers under a wide-ranging blueprint to save cash.

The council's Labour leadership has unveiled its draft budget for 2017/18, as well as set out a vision for the two years after that.

The proposals include the loss of 'up to' 31 jobs by 2020, which they hope can be achieved by not replacing staff who leave or voluntary redundancies.

Around 25 of the roles could go in the council's cleaner and greener department, which was due to be outsourced to the private sector before Labour halted the process.

The current workforce is around 260 people, meaning it faces a 12 per cent reduction over the next three years.

While car parking prices over the next year will be frozen, a council tax rise of £5 per year at Band D is being suggested - around 2.9 per cent extra and the largest amount allowed without staging a public referendum.

The rise is only £5 for the whole year at band D, around 9p per week, because the council controls 11 per cent of the bill - the bulk is decided by Worcestershire County Council, fire and police.

A 2.9 per cent rise will add £10 a year onto the largest Band H homes, but just £3.33 at Band A.

Elsewhere, of £2 million in 'reward cash' from central Government for allowing new house building, £1 million will fund elements of the well-publicised five-year City Plan while £997,000 will prop up day-to-day services.

Other ideas include trying to boost take-up of the garden waste collection service, which costs householders £54 a year, and slashing parking enforcement costs by potentially introducing automatic number plate recognition at car parks.

Labour Cllr Adrian Gregson, the leader, said: "The council is facing major financial challenges over the next five years, we need to be open to any ideas that help us set a balanced budget.

"These budget proposals include ideas from staff and they will be scrutinised by members of all parties.

"I'm committed to working with staff and unions to doing my utmost to avoid compulsory redundancies - I believe we can achieve the transformation we need without having to resort to that."

But opposition Tory group leader Cllr Marc Bayliss said: "We're concerned about job losses, particularly the impact it could have on services.

"This is around one tenth of the entire workforce of this city council.

"There is not enough detail to give us confidence that services will be maintained with less staff, we will be after reassurances on that."

The council needs to save £2.2 million over the next three years, as the Worcester News first revealed in the autumn.

The 2017/18 draft budget will be subject to cross party scrutiny sessions and consultation ahead of a vote in February.

The cabinet will discuss it in a meeting this coming Tuesday.