A centre to help women find work could face closure in the latest round of Oxford City Council cuts.

The council has a deficit of £2.6m, but is aiming to be £2m in credit by April.

To achieve this, 75 redundancies are being sought over the next two years, £8m worth of property is being sold and leases are being renegotiated.

But the council wants to improve its financial position even further, and chief executive Marion Headicar has outlined possible savings totalling £6m for the year 2002-2003 - including the controversial proposal to scrap the annual £250,000 grant to the Oxford Women's Training Scheme.

The scheme, based at the Northway Centre in Maltfield Road, Northway Estate, Headington, provides training for more than 200 women each year, helping them get jobs in computing or the construction industry.

It has been running for 13 years.

Development manager Cathy Harries said: "Our funding runs out at the end of October and, if it is stopped, then we will almost certainly have to close.

"We are examining other avenues for funding, including the National Lottery, but we need at least another year's help from the city council, and have just submitted our bid.

"There is such demand for our courses that if we had more space we could accommodate another 40 or 50 women a year."

Director Jane Butcher said: "We don't want to see the centre close and are seeking other sources of funding."

If the council does cut funding, it will save £100,000 in the year 2002-2003, and £250,000 every year after that.

The scheme relies heavily on city council funding because the £250,000 grant is matched every year by the European Social Fund.

Paul Ingram, deputy leader of the council, said: "We are trying to protect the grants budget, but there are particular grants where we feel other public bodies could take the responsibility, and this is one of them.

"We know the scheme does an excellent job training women from social backgrounds where the school system might have let them down and we regret having to consider this."

Earlier this year, the OWTS was awarded a Home Office grant for a £197,000 project to help women from ethnic minorities develop skills and find employment.

The Unity project is based at the East Oxford Education Complex in Union Street.

**Other savings being considered include reducing opening hours at four one-stop shops, and continuing a freeze on recruitment.