Senior members of cash-strapped Nottingham City Council have refused to recommend a report that proposed £20m in budget cuts.

Council leader David Mellen said the majority Labour administration had decided there was ‘little to recommend' in a report that proposed cuts to library provision, the number of community protection officers and grants to the voluntary sector.

Officers had put forward the proposals in a bid to fill a £60m budget gap forecast for 2024-25 after being instructed by a Government-appointed improvement and assurance board to bring forward all savings they considered possible.

Cllr Mellen said this directive - a condition of receiving exceptional financial support - created what felt like a ‘no-win' situation for councillors.

However, he said the Labour group would ‘seriously consider' the council's duty to agree a balanced budget at a meeting next month.

In November, Nottingham issued a section 114 notice due to its inability to deliver a balanced budget for the 2023-24 financial year.