FIFE COUNCIL has voted to raise council tax bills by three per cent and make cuts to help plug a £20 million funding gap.

The Labour administration's budget was approved at a meeting today which will see savings made through a range of measures.

As reported in the Press last week, cash is expected to be found through the Enabling Change programme which will look at the way services across Fife operate and should provide £1 million of savings this year however will bring with it nearly 300 job losses in the next three years.

Another area where £3 million pounds of savings were earmarked was the redistribution of teaching staff to reduce current vacancies.

The Fife SNP group had put forward an amended budget which included a £250,000 spend on tourism, however, when it came to the vote, the Labour budget received 39 votes compared to 25 votes for the SNP motion and 10 votes for a Liberal Democrat amendment.

Among investment plans approved for the council's Capital Investment Plan at the same meeting, £50 million has been set aside for long-awaited replacement schools for Inverkeithing, Woodmill and St Columba's High.

A further £100 million is still required from the Scottish Government before construction on new facilities can go ahead.

Other investments included a promise to maintain and improve roads across Fife where particular priority will be given to rural and residential areas.

A total of £500,000 will be allocated to improve Dunfermline town centre while £100,000 was allocated for each of the next two years to the local area committees as a trial to support local community plans.