RESIDENTS are being called on to help the council make another £15 million savings.

Wigan Council believes it can balance its books by asking people to recycle more, volunteer and use online services.

It wants a new contract with residents – the Wigan Deal – to help it cope with the cuts in government grants and says if people play their part, major cuts to frontline services and job losses could be avoided.

Leader of Wigan Council Lord Peter Smith said: “This new way of working has been forced on us by the drastic cuts to our budget. We expected to see our grant from central government reduced but the reality has been way beyond expectations.

“We have sought to mitigate the impact of the cuts by acting early and taking a prudent approach to financial planning. “We are achieving our saving targets and still managing to maintain the vital services.

“There is still pain to come and transforming the way we work is a huge challenge, but we are in a strong position to meet that challenge and if the residents of the borough work with us, we can move forward with confidence.”

The plans are part of budget proposals which were approved by councillors at a cabinet meeting last Thursday and will now go to full council in March.