MORE cash is to be spent by Craven District Council in a bid to carry out its own "in-house" work and make savings in the long run.

The policy committee agreed to fork out £50,000 on each of the next two years - 2015/16 and 2016/17 - to employ a person with qualifications and skills to enhance the work of the council's asset and property services department.

In his report to the committee, Paul Ellis, director of services, said the "magnitude of the challenges facing the service must not be underestimated".

At present, the council was having to draw on external skills, but in the future more efficient ways of developing the council's own resources and ensuring it had the right skills to meet the financial challenges was necessary.

It would enable the service to meet the demands of the current council plan, including "build to rent" and the work on Skipton Town Hall. It would lead also to additional income generation.

As an example, Mr Ellis revealed that maintenance work to the value of £80,000 in the last financial year could have been undertaken by "in-house" maintenance operatives.

Cllr Simon Myers (Con), backing the proposal, said: "We must use public assets to generate more income because we are not receiving a lot of money from the Government.

"Bringing in experts is expensive and we must maximise our assets and this is the right time to do it."