VITAL public services across West Somerset are facing massive cuts on an unprecedented scale with the prospect of tens of millions of pounds slashed from budgets countywide.

Somerset Council's Council's announcement that it plans to lose more than 700 staff by next April, that roads maintenance would be cut by £46m over the next three years and that major reductions are likely in adult social care and subsidised bus travel for students has been widely criticised.

In the wake of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review last week - which outlined cuts of 7.1 per cent to local authorities each year for the next four years - the Tory-controlled council immediately responded with measures that have been labelled premature and savage by opponents.

The cutbacks are wide ranging and across the board, hitting young and old, the vulnerable and the disabled.

And council leaders have warned that worse is still to come with further and even deeper cuts in the pipeline.

The initial proposals are likely to result in the closure of some libraries and youth clubs, as well as the axing of all county council funding for police community support officers, leading to the loss of ten posts.

Eight of Somerset's 18 household recycling centres are earmarked for closure with modified opening hours at others, while other areas set to be hit include school transport, arts funding, special education needs and road safety initiatives.

Bus subsidies on key routes could be reduced and the maintenance of footpaths and rights of way work put on the back burner.

Vital infrastructure funding for community organisations, include Councils for Voluntary Service, would also end.

The initial 700 job losses would be achieved by a mix of voluntary or compulsory redundancies but a further 800 posts are expected to be lost over the next three years.

Remaining staff could face potential pay cuts and less generous terms and conditions to save the council more cash.

Council leader Cllr Ken Maddock admitted that there were things that he and his colleagues really did not want to cut back on.

"But we just don't have a choice," he said.

"We already have a huge debt so borrowing more is not an option - each year we pay £36m towards our debt."

The drastic proposals will go before the council's cabinet on Monday, with final decisions take by the full council on November 10.

And a special council meeting is due to take place three days before Christmas to make further decisions as more proposed cuts are put forward.

Although no area appears to have escaped the axe, exact details of closures - such as locations and how the reductions in some services will be managed - have yet to be revealed

The public will be consulted about the impact of significant cuts to the library service, including the option of local communities or agencies either helping to operate or take over some libraries entirely.

In the realm of adult social care, the public will be asked its views on potential changes to the current level of help offered to people with disabilities.

"We have protected what we can and these are very painful cuts for us to take," said Cllr Maddock.

He said it was estimated that funding for the council's services would be reduced in real terms by more than a quarter over the next four years.

"We have spent months looking at how we can be more efficient and where we can cut but also how we can protect frontline services wherever possible.

"With the Government taking more than a quarter of our funding, doing nothing just isn't a choice for us.

"It's not our doing, but it is our responsibility."

Cllr Maddock said bureaucracy and red tape had been reduced wherever it could be and the lowest paid staff protected as much as possible.

"But let's be clear, these proposals are not the end of the process but just the first round.

"There will be further and deeper cuts announced over the coming weeks and months."

MORE REPORTS ON SOMERSET CUTS IN THIS WEEK'S FREE PRESS