Richmond Council has been accused of cutting children’s services unnecessarily after it ended the financial year with a surplus of almost £4.5m.

It was revealed at a cabinet meeting that a surplus of £4.475m was made by the council for the end of the 2010/11 despite £500,000 of cuts being made to children’s services.

The cuts included scrapping the Outskirts magazine for youngsters and the young people’s substance misuse service, and slashing the opening hours of Connexions, which provides education and careers advice to young people, from 25 hours a week to 16.

Leader of Richmond’s Liberal Democrats Councillor Stephen Knight claimed the cuts were “brutal and short sighted”.

He said: “With the budget ending the year with surplus of almost £4.5m, the council could easily have found the £500,000 needed to protect youth services.”

However, Richmond Council’s deputy leader Councillor Geoffrey Samuel said the money would be pumped back into areas highlighted as priority concerns for residents in the recent All in One Consultation.

He revealed £3m would be put aside for future schools builds, including new primary schools and introducing sixth forms into the borough, while the rest would be spent on fixing potholes and on five uplift zones across the borough.