HARROGATE Borough Council was last night set to consider its budget for 2015.

Ahead of the meeting, a council spokesman said the council was in a good financial position with 2014-15 underspends of £1.4 million, which cabinet would be asked to allocate to traffic reduction measures, a replacement swimming pool in Ripon and for viability studies on a Harrogate to Knaresborough cycleway.

There were also plans for efficiency savings to deal with government grant cuts of £1 million for 2015-16, as well as a proposal to freeze council tax for the sixth year in a row, increase cash for Christmas decorations in towns and set aside funding for voluntary groups.