A Cheshire East councillor has questioned whether the authority should be diverting funds from the early help service to the Crewe Youth Zone during a time of financial crisis.

Cllr Jos Saunders (Con) said there had been a rise in the number of children going into care locally and the cost of placements had soared by 300 per cent.

"We've had cuts of staff in early help and we're diverting £400k from this service every year for three years to fund the Crewe Youth Zone," she told the corporate policy committee on Thursday.

"Early help is the very service which helps prevent children entering care. Should we be looking at this project again in light of the difficulties facing this council?"

The Poynton councillor said she had concerns about the issues facing the children and families committee and its budget.

She said there had been an overspend on home to school transport costs and she was critical that some free bus services – including between Willaston and Brine Leas School in Nantwich and another between Prestbury and Fallibroome Academy – hadn't been axed years ago.

"In children and families committee the other week, we had two walking routes which should have been re-designated years ago but they weren't implemented meaning that we lost savings of more than £80,000 a year and this is unacceptable in the current climate," said Cllr Saunders.

"There's just two of them. I know there are also two in Wybunbury which have been brought up time and time again. Can we be confident that these are now going to be brought forward expeditiously?"

Cllr Saunders also feared the council would be hard hit because of having to service the interest payments on the high needs deficit.

"We have a deficit in high needs of £47m, it's set to virtually double to £85.9m next March," she said.

"We are forecasting that the interest payments for this will be £3m next year which will not be in the override and therefore contribute to the predicted £12.8m overspend of the council."