A COUNCIL tax freeze, and £56million spent on new roads, school buildings and other projects are some of the positives of Somerset County Council's spending proposals . . . but it’s not all plain sailing.

The council has revealed spending plans of more than £300million, which will be put to a vote at February’s full council meeting.

As well as the good news, the council says the loss of £20million of Government saving compared to last year and an increased demand across services has put huge pressure on its budgets.

Council leader John Osman said they were delighted to be able to make decisions in key areas, such as roads and schools.

He said: “We’ve had to make some very difficult decisions to reflect the fall in Government funding.

“I call again on Government to look at how it allocates its funding and stop the current system which penalises rural counties like Somerset.

“We want fairer funding for Somerset and will continue to take the fight to Government to try to win the argument.”

Under the proposals, frontline services for adults (£86million) and children (£40million) remain the largest budget areas and wherever possible they have been protected.

The plans will also see more money set aside for highways and waste budgets.

The reduction in Government funding, however, means other services due to be discussed next month might not be so lucky.

They include:

  •  £2.2million saved in adult services through more efficient ways of working.
  • £1million saved by less use of residential care homes and helping people stay in their own homes for longer.
  • Around 100 staff posts being lost ither through not filling vacancies or voluntary/compulsory redundancies.
  • Reducing staff sickness.
  • Reducing training and support in areas such as nursery, early years and school improvement.

There are also 60 other proposals, ranging from minor funding changes to significant sums, which would save just over £16million.

The remaining savings will be made up in other ways, including more people paying council tax.

Decisions either already taken by officers or cabinet members, or due to be taken over the coming weeks, include:

  • Increasing income across services.
  • Re-negotiating new and existing contracts to deliver savings.
  • Reducing the county council’s bills – for instance, changing to LED lamps in street lights will save around £175,000 a year.
  • A series of cuts to public subsidies of bus routes, subject to consultation.

Cllr Osman said: “There’s no doubt that we’d rather not be making some of these savings, and if the Government hadn’t reduced our funding by so much we wouldn’t have to.”

“I’d highlight one area in particular – buses. We’re having to look at savings, such as stopping our subsidy for Saturday services.

“Where a route’s viable for bus operators they’ll continue to run their services, but on the face of it this looks like a tough decision.

“That’s until you see the extent of some of our bus subsidies – it can’t be right that our council taxpayers should be forking out more than £7 per person per journey on one route and similar subsidies on many others.”

The spending plans will be discussed by the council’s cabinet on February 9 at the Taunton Conference Centre at Somerset College.