A COUNCIL at the centre of controversy over budget cuts is set to write off £240,000 in debts it has been unable to recover.

Eastleigh Borough Council will tonight consider giving up the cash, which is mainly unpaid council tax and business rates.

The council, which collects £130 million a year in rates and council tax, says the bulk of the money, £169,742, is from debts involving bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings, which it cannot reclaim for legal reasons.

In several such cases the tax or rate payer could not be traced.

In one case a prison sentence had been given so there was no way to recover a £2,552 debt and one benefit claimant who owed £2,824 had died.

The amount being written off compares to £230,000 last year but is down on 2013/2014 when written-off debts totalled £385,087.

As reported, the Liberal Democrat-run council, led by Cllr Keith House, is looking to shave £4.7 million off its budget in a five-year period.

The council and Cllr House have come under fire for failing to explain how it will make nearly £1 million in savings over the next financial year.

The council is also mired in controversy for its rising debt, which will reach £154 million by April 2017. The money is being spent on secret projects, which council chiefs have refused to reveal to taxpayers.

Cllr Suzy Hamel was fired by her cabinet job last month by Cllr House for speaking out over the borrowing.

A report on unrecoverable debts said they had all been assessed on an individual basis and were only written off “where all means of recovery have been exhausted”.

It concludes that any further action to retrieve such debts would be “counter-productive and uneconomical”.

Conservative opposition leader Cllr Godfrey Olson said it was unfortunate given that the council was looking to make savings.

“You will always get this in commerce – in any business people will default on their payments,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate because people who don’t make due and just payments create a greater burden upon others.”

A council spokesman said: “This year our irrecoverable debt is around £233,000 of which just under £170,000 we have no way of recovering as it is a result of businesses going bankrupt or into liquidation.

“The council makes every effort to recover all debt and We have a gross collection rate of more than 99 per cent.”

Cabinet members will decide whether to approve writing off the debt tonight.