Tyne Tees Newcastle City Council

Newcastle Council has voted to approve a £32m cuts package at a meeting this evening.

The announcement comes as the council faces further reductions to its central government grant. £15m will be stripped from the adult social care budget, which will result in 30 full time social workers losing their jobs.

To try and close the funding gap, councillors have also approved a rise of just under 4% to council tax. For Band D households that will mean an increase of twenty six pounds a year.

A controversial map produced by Newcastle City Council shows that people in the North East are bearing much higher cuts than those in the south.

The 'heat map' reveals that many councils here have seen funding reduced by more than £225 per head, compared to an increase in southern authority areas.

It also says that the region has seen a near 20% decrease in its spending power, compared to 6.1% in the South East.

Newcastle City Council is considering closing children's centres across the city as part of £40m of savings.

Sure Start centres have been running for over 15 years, and provide learning, health and childcare services for those with children up to five-years-old.

They're focussed on some of our most deprived areas, but are open to everyone.

Today, parents held a protest picnic to try and persuade the counsellors to change their mind.

But when challenged by ITV news, council leader Cllr Nick Forbes directed criticism at central government, saying he needed 'no convincing' Sure Start centres should stay.

The leader of Newcastle City Council said he needs 'no convincing' of the value of Sure Start children's centres, but reiterated that cuts must be made to balance the books next year.

Cllr Nick Forbes directed criticism over the proposed closures of two-thirds of the centres in the city towards central government.

The local authority must save £40m in government enforced cuts.

Unions are campaigning against the proposed closure of Sure Start centres in Newcastle.

The council say government cuts are forcing them to consider closing children's centres across the city.

Ed Whitby, from Unison, is urging councillors to think again.