Northumberland families will be offered the use of a £3m council mortgage fund.

First-time buyers and those struggling to find a lender willing to help them will be able to turn to Northumberland County Council for help.

Councillors on the county's executive board will be asked to agree to the £3m deal next week. The money will come from council borrowing.

Gardeners across Northumberland who opt to have their green waste collected by the county council will start to receive the service in the next two weeks.

The council has agreed to peg the annual charge for the collection service at £20 this year, after a move to increase it by 25% was rejected by opposition councillors.

People who pay for the service get their grass, leaves, hedge and tree cuttings and other garden materials picked up from the kerbside every other week during the growing season. The waste is then converted into compost or soil improver.

Government rulings which turned down two rural wind farm developments could give planners in the region greater authority to refuse future inappropriate proposals.

Officers at Northumberland County Council said the rejection of the schemes would have implications for future applications in the area.

In a report to go before the council tomorrow, they also raise hopes the decision will force developers to acknowledge the need to protect the county's historic environment when shaping schemes.

A last minute promise of extra cash for Northumberland's crumbling roads and a climbdown on spending cuts in care of the elderly was enough to avoid a potential council budget crisis last night.

The 11th-hour package of concessions by County Hall leaders enabled the unitary authority to finally agree its 2010/11 budget plans, with just four days to spare.

The agreement averted the risk of the council failing to set a legal budget in the required timescale, and the threat of Government-appointed commissioners being sent in to do the job.

Political leaders were urged last night to delay a budget-slashing decision amid claims people were denied the chance to have their say.

Northumberland County Council unveiled its proposed budget for 2010/11 in November. As part of a consultation on the budget, public meetings were scheduled across the county for January.

However last month's snow meant two of the meetings, at Berwick and Cramlington, had to be cancelled.

Political leaders in Northumberland were ordered back to the drawing board last night after their budget plans for 2010/11 were rejected by an alliance of opposition councillors.

The minority Liberal Democrat administration at County Hall will now have to come up with a revised package of proposals after its plans to make £21.5m in savings to balance the books failed to win the support of Conservative and Labour opponents.

Opposition councillors were accused of "political grandstanding" at a meeting of the full council in Morpeth, which had been called to approve this year's budget following months of detailed consultations.

A popular guide aimed at helping older people in Northumberland get the most out of life has been published for the fourth time.

Previous issues of the Golden Guide have gone down so well with the over-50s that there was a waiting list for the latest 5,000-copy print run.

The free booklet, which is produced by community information specialists Clever Clogs Publishing in partnership with Age Concern Northumberland, the county council and care trust, has also been given a new design.

Northumberland County Council will not have to make a further £11m in "horrendous" budget cuts, the Government has said.

It was feared that around £30m worth of savings would be required to balance next year's budget but the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has allowed councillors to pay for some costs from the capital budget.

The authority had submitted four bids for capitalisation in respect of potential losses on Icelandic investments of £9.1m, for £6m in strain on the pension fund, £2.8m for enhanced redundancy and £1.4m for statutory redundancy.

Beleaguered council bosses in Northumberland have been left anxiously waiting for a key Government decision on whether they will have to find a further £11m in "horrendous" budget cuts.

County council leaders expected to be told yesterday whether ministers will allow them to use a financial loophole to avoid having to make almost £30m in savings this year.

But last night - as the authority revealed it has dropped plans to close a number of tourist information centres in Northumberland - there had still been no decision from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

A council facing serious financial problems is considering providing mortgages for people struggling to get a home loan because of the credit crunch.

Cash-strapped Northumberland County Council - which is having to make budget cuts of up to £50m over two years - is thinking of using its capital resources to help would-be home buyers who are being frustrated by the continued squeeze on lending.

A report is being prepared for the Liberal Democrat executive in March on the possibility of the authority giving mortgages "in certain circumstances" to applicants unable to secure a loan from commercial lenders.