There were no major shocks as Braintree Council received confirmation of its central government funding for 2014/15.

Although details of the final government settlement are still being assessed, the indication is that, as predicted, the council will face a 13.5 per cent cut in funding.

The authority announced in August that efforts would be made to identify savings of £1.5million over the next four years.

Last month, details of ideas about how the savings could be made were released.

Council leader Graham Butland said: “What is good is that we got our figures so accurate.

“If we were miles out it would have thrown our whole medium term financial strategy out but that isn’t the case.”