LEISURE bosses have been ordered to tighten their belts as part of the ongoing City of York Council cash clampdown.

A report to the council's executive member for leisure and heritage, Keith Orrell, and his advisory panel, details a projected leisure and heritage £170,000 overspend for July to September this year.

In a search for savings, finance chiefs have carefully checked spending on various budgets, including equipment, materials, travel, conferences and training.

One-off reductions in those budgets have been proposed for the rest of the financial year and tough restrictions have been placed on recruitment.

The instructions come as part of the huge drive for savings within the city council.

The ruling Liberal Democrat group is facing a worst-case £8.4m budget gap, and leader Steve Galloway has told his executive members to come up with between £3m and £4m of savings.

York residents have also been urged to come up with penny- pinching ideas.

Richard Hartle, head of education and leisure finance, said in the report: "This means that service managers will have to manage within reduced budgets for the remainder of the year and may have to delay some activity until next spring."

The report also says any vacancies in the leisure department between now and the end of the financial year will be reviewed.

Any request to fill a position will have to be approved by the education and leisure strategy team.

The report adds: "Wherever possible, appointments will be delayed until the end of the financial year with only those posts deemed absolutely necessary being filled immediately."

The projected leisure overspend will be debated at the executive member meeting, next Monday, from 5pm, at The Guildhall.

On Wednesday, Ann Reid, the council's executive member for planning and transport, will debate the £396,000 predicted overspend her department faces.

The overspend has been slashed twice, first from £512,000 and then from £460,000. Money has been saved by employing extra staff and changing shift patterns to cut back on overtime costs.

Updated: 08:37 Wednesday, November 05, 2003