JUST as the people of Somerset were absorbing the impact of the Government’s spending review this week, the county council dropped a bombshell of further far reaching cuts.

County Hall has announced it is to pare back to the bone spending in all departments – roads, libraries, young people, elderly and disabled people – no area will remain untouched.

And a quarter of the workforce is to go, with those remaining getting pay cuts.

Among the measures unveiled by Somerset County Council’s Conservative leader, Cllr Ken Maddock, were: *the road repairs budget has been slashed in half, meaning no more resurfacing, although potholes will still be filled in; *three-quarters of the youth budget is going, with some youth centres closing; *severe cuts in the library service, with people asked which of the 34 libraries should be closed; *eight of the 18 household recycling centres will shut; *1,500 jobs – a quarter of the workforce, to go, with 700 of those by April; *staff who keep their jobs will see a change to their terms, with inevitable pay cuts; *a consultation is underway on the level of care for elderly and disabled people.

Council leader Ken Maddock (Con) said: “What can I say? Frankly, it’s heartbreaking.

“It’s not something I want to do, but our money has been cut by more than a quarter – I have to balance the books.

“I’m not proud of it.

“What does concern me is this is public money and it makes me really angry we have got into this situation.”

Mr Maddock blamed former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the previous LibDem administration for the county’s financial woes.

He said: “The reason I’m coming out and doing this is because I think people are entitled to know and I want to be as honest and as upfront as I possibly can.”

The cuts are not all over yet - Somerset County Council needs to cut £75million over three years and all the savings have not been found.

Mr Maddock added: “I will have to come back with more announcements of this sort before the end of the year.”

Referring to the jobs cull, Sheila Wheeler, council chief executive, said: “Every job is precious and it’s heartbreaking.

“We’re looking at all the services and at where we need to make these cuts.

“The situation is the finances are quite fragile – our cookie jar of spare money has just £11million and there’s no room for errors.

“There are really, really difficult choices and priorities and it will be very, very difficult for every citizen in Somerset and everyone working at the county council.”

Mrs Wheeler said jobs would go “across the piece”, with no single department suffering more than any other.

She added that the biggest spending areas such as adult social care, adults with learning difficulties and children’s social care would inevitably see cutbacks, while flood management would be “hard hit”.

Mrs Wheeler said: “I’m realistic and pragmatic and realise this is for the long term benefit of the Ukplc – we have to work our way through it.”

She conceded that the cuts in spending on roads could “put people at risk”.

She added: “We’ll try to mitigate out as much as is possible. Inevitably there are consequences.”