The challenge of balancing the books at Cornwall Council has been made easier by this week’s Budget, its deputy leader has said.

The government confirmed local authorities would receive an extra £1.3bn from next year.

The Conservative-led council must plug a £58m hole in its budget for the next financial year and has yet to identify £9m of savings.

Councilor David Harris welcomed the additional government support but admitted there was still work to do.

The government has pledged £500m to maintain local roads and £232m to help councils prevent homelessness.

He also confirmed that a pilot scheme allowing the council to keep 100% of business rates income will continue for another year.

Harris said: “Considering what we saw were broad numbers, it was pretty good.

“The devil will be in the details, but overall it has made it a little bit easier because I see possibly an extra eight, nine or ten million pounds coming out of the budget for us.”

Councilors on the budget development review and scrutiny committee met on Thursday to evaluate £49 million of savings already identified by the agents.

He said a “team effort” was needed to find the remaining £9m and “all ideas” would be considered.

However, he insisted that the authority drawing on its reserves for the second year in a row to cover the deficit was “unsustainable”.

Looking ahead, the government also confirmed it would reform the way local authorities allocate funding using the current formula.

Cornwall has been around for a long time called for fairer financing for the area, but Harris said he would remain cautious until they see it “in black and white.”