Highland Council is proposing to cut more than 300 jobs as it meets today (wed) to finalise its plans to save £55 million over the next five years.

It comes after the local authority watered down its most draconian proposals which raised fears that 800-1,000 council jobs might have to go.

It now looks certain the head count is to be reduced to around 314 full time equivalent (FTE) posts .

Education had been earmarked to bear £2m worth of cutbacks over two years, with up to 60 jobs going starting next year. But that has been delayed a year.

Budget leader Maxine Smith said opposition councillors had identified a one off saving of £500,000 which would allow a postponement. "We agreed, as it gives schools a year to work out how they can save 1% in staffing costs."

She said it wouldn't mean they necessarily have to cut a member of staff, but had to find a way of saving the equivalent amount of money. She said that for example they would be looking for savings across all secondary schools comparable to the cost of employing 15 teachers in total.

The authority says it remains committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies and therefore there is determined to manage these by natural staff turnover, retirement and vacancies.

Plans to reduce the primary school week had already been abandoned for at least a year.

But it does look certain that burial and parking charges will rise steeply. Car parks that currently charge six days a week in Inverness and Fort William are likely to start charging on Sundays as well. However the car parks which are free in smaller communities, will remain so.

"The opposition didn't like the idea of charging on Sundays, but we do need to do this to keep the others free," Ms Smith said.

She said the ruling SNP/Lib Dem/Labour coalition had been working with the Independent opposition councillors to identify the best way forward.

A Citizens' Panel Survey conducted in October-November attracted 1,234 responses on the range of proposed savings.