Council bosses have hit on a new way of saving money after it was revealed that rent money is being sent direct to the treasury from the Housing Revenue Account instead of it being used to repair council properties.

"We've identified several cost savings that can be made and have started with removing the tumble dryers in council flats in Tilehurst," said a council spokesman. "We wrote to tenants telling them of our plans and got no response so we assumed that they do not use them. On a similar basis, because of the number of take-aways in Whitley Street, we assume that Elizabeth Walk flats will not need their cookers any more and as for the Hexham, the amount of money we can save by removing the unused washing machines will be in the hundreds. It's all money desperately needed by Gordon Brown, so anything we can do to help."