Council set to make cuts

South Shropshire District Council will be forced to cut services in a bid to save up to £600,000, officials said today.

They claim the Government grant given to the authority is too low to cover existing services.

The council will be forced to make between £200,000 and £600,000 worth of savings next year.

Today Martin Taylor-Smith, south Shropshire's finance chief, said the Government was not providing enough money to maintain services.

He said: "We've identified savings in excess of between £200,000 and £600,000. However, to enable that level of savings, some services will have to be cut.

"We're pretty certain we can cover the lower of the two figures. The higher the figure would be more of a challenge. We've got three months to identify savings."

Councillor Mrs Cecilia Motley, leader of the district council, said the authority was being carefully managed but the Government was squeezing it financially.

She said the authority would have a financial shortfall whether it remained a district council or whether it was amalgamated into a larger unitary authority.

Councillor Mrs Motley said: "We know that the Government is going to be squeezing us very hard indeed for considerable savings."