DEMORALISED staff at Bournemouth's visitor attractions feel the world-class resort is suffering "death by a thousand cuts".

The claim came from the resort's director of leisure and tourism as he called for an end to the budget-slashing which has hit his department year after year.

Stephen Godsall's claims come in a summer which has seen beach cleaning cut, seafront toilets breaking down and the Lower Gardens aviary under threat of closure.

Mr Godsall told councillors: "Constant budget cuts are having a serious effect on staff morale. Don't take my word for it, go and speak to your staff. They're really feeling they're suffering the death by a thousand cuts."

His comments were made to a policy advisory group looking at ways Bournemouth Borough Council could cut budgets to avoid a possible 20 per cent council tax hike next year.

Mr Godsall said his department had weathered a 30 per cent budget reduction in budget over five years.

Another £630,000 was needed in next year's budget just to stand still, he said. An extra £68,000 was needed for waste disposal if the beaches were not to start losing quality awards or failing health and safety standards.

A new water main was needed at the seafront to avoid a repeat of the toilet breakdowns seen during the recent heatwave, when a lack of water pressure meant WCs could only be flushed every 10 minutes.

A threatened overspend of £630,000 had been avoided this year by cuts totalling £380,000 and an increase in income during the hot spell.

Councillors debated whether the latest cuts were the fault of the new Liberal Democrat council or the Conservative regime which set the budget.

But Mr Godsall said: "We haven't got the level of budget. You can argue forever about whose fault it is but we've got to face the fact."

Cllr Adrian Fudge, cabinet member for quality services and value for money, said councillors had not been given enough detailed information to consider budget savings.

"We haven't learned anything from here really except the extent of the problem," he said.

He said the figures available to councillors not even substantiate the claims of a 30 per cent budget cut.

The advisory group voted to suspend its meetings while cabinet members looked at their individual budgets more closely.