COUNCILLORS are set to lose their meat and two veg as part of budget cuts that are set to bite into council services.

Taking meals previously offered to Fife Council staff off the table are among savings worth £13 million approved in the 2016-17 Enterprise and Environment Directorate budget proposed last month, with job losses also set to occur.

In its budget for 2016-17, the Labour administration had to fill a £38 million black hole and said that it expected to have to make savings of £91 million over the next three years.

The report outlining the enterprise and environment budget, which covers services including property and building, catering, cleaning, roads, transport and waste collection, said approximately 20 FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) posts were set to go in roads administration "through service restructure and ongoing vacancy management and non-filling of posts".

Reductions to the budget for the structural and routine maintenance of roads are "significant" and will impact on activities such as patching, drainage and verge maintenance, as well as "on the serviceability of the road network with medium term impact on the road condition and increased future maintenance requirements".

Catering services are also set to be hit, with seven FTE posts earmarked to go that will result in a reduced service in the council's staff restaurants, with a move towards a "bistro-type style of service" as "the traditional main meal and two veg will not be offered".

A further 20 facilities management jobs will be lost as savings "will necessitate a managing change exercise that, ultimately, will result in reduced reception presence in corporate buildings and a reduction in premises related expenditure", while measures will be put in place to "reduce the appointment of consultants and through better planning of workload" within property services.

Some charities are also set to feel the pinch with plans to introduce charges for waste collections, while "a review of the use of recycling centres by traders as well as enforcement of the current charging policy" will also take place.

Five public toilets across the Kingdom will also be shut as part of the savings plan and, despite admitting that the "historic levels of investment in repairs and maintenance have proven to be inadequate in addressing backlog maintenance which approx, £250m", a £2 million reduction in planned maintenance expenditure for 2016-17 "will result in a re-prioritisation of planned activity and some works will be rescheduled into 2017-18".