THIRTY-six posts are set to be axed by Burnley Council as town hall bosses are forced to make savings of £2million.

Council officials have not revealed publicly where the axe will fall — but 21 occupied posts are known to be affected and the move will recoup £555,000.

Another 16 positions, currently vacant, will be deleted from the borough’s rosters, clawing back a further £403,000.

Elsewhere there are plans to increase car parking charges everywhere except Towneley Hall, with a six per cent rise in cremation fees and four per cent hike in burial charges.

Other increases in fees and charges have been limited to three per cent and the free swimming scheme for under 16s and over 60s will continue. The hire charge for council-owned football pitches will drop from £53.80 to £50.

Coun Mark Townsend, resources executive member, said: “The funding we get from government is reducing, and we are having to propose a number of redundancies because of this. We have explored all possibilities in an effort to minimise redundancies and are planning to make savings in other areas as well but unfortunately it has not been possible to balance the budget by this means alone.”

The council conducted a ‘Have Your Say’ exercise to receive ideas about prior-ities and possible savings areas in November.

Coun Townsend said the original number of redundancies forecast was around 30 but discussions had taken place with staff and unions.

The authority has received £200,000 in a New Homes Bonus, and instigated a number of other savings, but financiers are expecting to be hit hard when their annual settlement is announced.