NORTH Devon Council is to shave £1.4million off this year's budget compared to last year — with £20,000 being cut from CCTV services and £25,000 from public toilets.

The council has also outlined proposals to save £249,420 in staff costs.

This is staff wages which the council won't be paying in 2012/13 because of job losses.

The proposed budget will go before full council on February 22. It also includes a reduced contribution to the Barnstaple Christmas lights.

NDC leader Brian Greenslade said not all of the savings were being made through cuts.

Some, such as the £30,000 being saved on insurance contracts, were made by negotiating a better deal.

He said: "Given these tough economic times you can often get keener prices than before, so we've managed to negotiate a better rate.

"Fortunately we were able to avoid mass compulsory redundancies and, because our reserves and balances were reasonably robust, we have been able to make cuts without affecting services.

"With good fortune and improved joint working with Torridge District Council, I think we can successfully get through the Comprehensive Spending Review period and will be able to get through the next four years.

"The way things are going a lot of people are saying we are not through the worst of it yet.

"But at NDC I think we're in a fairly reasonable position and some things such as the joint working will enable us to make further savings."

When asked how the £25,500 earmarked to be saved on public conveniences would affect the public, Mr Greenslade said: "We're not talking getting into a situation of losing public loos. It doesn't mean we're closing them, it just means we will be approaching the maintenance of the toilets in a different way."

The council is also hoping to save £156,320 from the waste and recycling budget, which includes £25,000 in staff costs.

Mr Greenslade said: "We will still empty everybody's bins but the waste and recycling department is an area we've been looking. There is a lot of absenteeism and high sickness levels and that costs us money. We need to tackle that."

On the £20,000 cuts to CCTV services Mr Greenslade said all the cameras would stay on, but they were making savings in the way the council ran the service.

Asked if the council had been wasteful in the past with taxpayers' money Mr Greenslade said: "You can always be more efficient, and if you look for it I would say the silver lining in all this is that we have to be more careful.

"For instance, we're looking to re-broker our banking arrangements. In times of an easier financial climate this may not have happened, but we're now in times where everything must be checked two or three times over before it is agreed."