BLAENAU Gwent council is more than £2.3 million over budget for this financial year, according to reports due to be delivered to the authority's executive today.

By December 31 last year, the Valleys council had overspent by £1.1 million on its capital budget for major projects such as Ebbw Valley Railway and The Works in Ebbw Vale.

It had also overspent by £1.2 million on its revenue budget for ongoing expenses such as the cost of running social services and education departments.

The two reports, which will be discussed at a special meeting of the executive committee, urge the council to find new sources of cash as a "matter of urgency" for capital expenditure.

There is also a warning that the council's savings could be affected if departments do not make savings throughout the rest of the financial year.

The report into the authority's capital expenditure shows that replacing central heating in the public sector housing cost the council £45,275 more than it budgeted for between April and December 2010.

£409,737 was spent on the Ebbw Valley Railway when no cash had been set aside in this year's budget, and there was a £184,786 over spend on replacing street lamps.

The report into revenue spending - cash used for the day-to-day running of the authority's services - said the council had set aside £250,000 from its savings to meet the on-going budget pressures in 2010/2011.

But despite this, overspending in the social services, education, regeneration and planning departments had come to a total of £1,217,090.

This included social services spending £273,331 more than was budgeted for on adults with learning disabilities. There was also a £110,580 overspend on planning appeals.

The reports recommend that action plans are implemented to address overspends, and that the executive works closely with other staff to resolve funding issues by the end of the financial year.