OPPOSITION councillors have called for their ward improvement budgets to be scrapped to help the authority balance the budget.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council currently sets aside £3 million a year, which is shared out equally among the city's 20 electoral wards.

Councillors can use this money to pay for community initiatives, as well as environmental or safety improvements in their area, without the need to go cap-in-hand to the cabinet for the funding.

The ward budgets are already earmarked for reduction by £1 million from May, when the council switches to new ward arrangements of 44 councillors serving 38 wards.

But Community Voice Councillor Mick Salih says this reduction will not go far enough.

He said: "Our group feels that the ward budgets are a luxury that we can no longer afford in the current financial climate.

"There is also a problem with the system in that there are no set criteria laid down to govern how and where this public money is spent."

He added: "I don't think we need to have it at all, but if we do retain some kind of ward budget system for next year then it must have proper criteria in place to ensure the funding is not misused for personal or political gain."