£45m cuts warning on local services

Around £45 million of cuts could be made to frontline services such as education in Worcestershire, council chiefs warned today.

Worcestershire County Council says its revenue budget could be slashed by up to 85 per cent over the three years 2011-14 for the county's 550,000 residents.

Bosses are blaming the financial downturn and expected Government public spending cuts for the budget reduction. Council bosses say they do not want to make up the shortfall by increasing council tax.

Wyre Forest District Council leader Councillor John Champion says the authority will be discussing what the cuts mean for services in the district by the end of the week.

The revenue budget is what the county council spends on the day-to-day running of services such as education, social care, highways maintenance and waste management.