Ealing Council will work with Harrow and Brent in a bid to cut the cost of running libraries and leisure facilities.

The council says it needs to reduce its overall budget by £85million by 2014 and is investigating a number of options to make savings.

The plan is to work with the two neighbouring boroughs to consider whether jointly running services would save money. The council will also consider proposals put forward by any charitable organisations.

Councillor Ranjit Dheer, cabinet member for community services and safety, said: “We want to offer excellent services and are committed to investing to improve these facilities. We do however still need to reduce running costs for both our library and leisure services.

''We will now begin detailed work to see if entering into a joint contract could help cut those costs. We will look carefully at any proposals presented and are clear that we won’t do anything we don’t feel is right for Ealing.”

The decision was made by the council’s cabinet on Tuesday, 24 January 2012. All cabinet decisions are subject to call-in for a period of five working days from the date of publication of the minutes of the meeting.

26 January 2012