AS TORRIDGE District Council opens up its accounts to public scrutiny, council leader James Morrish believes it is in good shape to make inevitable future cuts less painful.

The council saw £38 million pass through its headquarters at Riverbank House in the financial year 2009/08.

HEADQUARTERS: Torridge District Council's Riverbank House.

Of that money the council budgeted £9,626,000 to spend on all the services its provides, from collecting rubbish to planning applications.

For its services the authority spent £9,579,000, saving £47,000 on what was planned and kept hold of a further £60,000 of unidentified savings required when the budget was set.

£4,597,000 was budgeted to spend on larger capital projects, but the council also underspent on those projects, only paying out £1,594,000.

The council's bank balance currently has nearly £3 million in its reserves, with £1,010,000 of this earmarked for projects.

James Morrish, said over the past three years quarterly business reviews were taking place, keeping members informed of what is happening in advance.

He said: "It is a private sector mentality that many councillors have brought to the council. The hands-on approach strengthens the team's position and this needs to happen because we are spending other people's money. It has been a challenge at Torridge and a lot has happened, but the figures speak for themselves and I'm confident for the future."

He said managers at the council were constantly challenged to find new ways of addressing forthcoming cuts.

He said: "For years there were question marks over us, but we have got our house in order as a team and looked to the future and for cost savings.

"We have been making savings for three years because there has been no other choice and we've done a fairly decent job. Some authorities have been listening to the warnings and we have been careful and tried to reduce expenditure, put our house in order and so hopefully the pain will be less.

"There are going to be challenges, but also opportunities. Very few sectors are looking to invest at the moment but we are going full steam."