A COUNCIL tax freeze, and £56m 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 its spending plans of more than £300m, which will be put to a vote at February's full council meeting.

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

“We are delighted that we will be able to make decisions that will see investment in key areas in Somerset like roads and schools, and to continue with our promise to freeze our part of Council Tax for a further year,” said Council Leader John Osman.

“We have 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 to 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 (£86m) and Children (£40m) remain the biggest budget areas and wherever possible have been protected.

The plans will also see more set aside for highways and waste budgets. But because of the reduction in Government funding, other services which are due to be discussed next month, might not be so lucky.

They include:

• £2.2m saved in adults services through more efficient ways of working

• £1m saved by less use of residential care homes and helping people stay in their own homes for longer

• Around 100 staff posts being lost – either through not filling vacancies, or voluntary/compulsory redundancies – the area hardest hit will be the back office and admin area of business support which alone will save £1.4m.

 • Reducing staff sickness – needing fewer expensive temporary staff

• 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 £16m.

The council says the remaining £4m savings will be made up of a variety of 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

• Renegotiating new and existing contracts to deliver savings

 • Reducing SCC’s bills – for instance by changing to LED lamps in street lights will save around £175k per year.

• A series of cuts to public subsidies of bus routes subject to consultation.

This, coupled with contract changes and a reduced amount paid to bus operators, could save the authority in the region of £600k.

Cllr Osman added: “There is no doubt that we would 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 would highlight one area in particular – buses. We are having to look at savings such as stopping our subsidy for Saturday services.

“Where a route is viable for bus operators, they will continue to run their services but on the face of it this looks like a tough decision – that is until you see the extent of some of our bus subsidies – it cannot be right that our Council Tax payers 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 Scrutiny Committees on 30 January and Cabinet on 9 February, both of which will be held at the Taunton Conference Centre at Somerset College.