Cut in teaching posts proposed by Highland Council

Highland Council has set out proposals to help it save £55m over four years, external.

The local authority plans to reduce its number of secondary school teaching posts by 50.

It also wants to save £600,000 from its winter maintenance budget by reducing precautionary gritting and treatment of lower priority routes.

Burial and cremation charges could rise by 50% over the next four years while car park charges could be introduced on Sundays.

The proposals will be considered at a meeting of the full council on 18 December.

The local authority said it had sought to avoid cuts that proved unpopular during public consultation.

It had suggested making an above 4% cut in funding to High Life Highland and Inverness Leisure in 2015/16. The organisations manage swimming pools and sports centres.

The organisations still face a potential 4% reduction in financial support from the local authority.

Last month, it delayed a plan to cut the time pupils in primaries 4 to 7 spend in class by 30 minutes a day.

Reducing class time for P4-7 pupils would have saved £3.2m over two years.