THE Vale of White Horse District Council spent more than £1m less than it originally predicted during last year’s economic crisis.

The authority had warned of a “significant shortfall in income” during its 2009/10 budget and put aside £1.65m to cover the deficit.

But it has been revealed stringent budget cuts meant it only had to use £488,000 of the money.

The figure covers the £321,000 which was written off following the collapse of the Icelandic bank Landsbanki.

Richard Webber, executive member for finance, said: “Like the majority of councils around the country, the Vale is experiencing a very challenging time financially.

“It is a real testament to management and staff at the Vale that we have managed to achieve such a significant underspend in the last year.

“The money that we have saved will be put back into the council’s reserves meaning that, although we still have a lot of work to do, we are in a much better situation financially going into next year, and we will continue to strive to reduce our costs and deliver services as efficiently as possible.”

The authority feared it would lose money through record-low interest rates, less income from car parking and a drop in planning applications following the reverse of the upward trend in the property market.

To counter this, the council put the brakes on all non-urgent spending in June last year.