A SWATHE of controversial cost-cutting measures were rubber-stamped by members of Somerset County Council on Wednesday, despite vociferous opposition from union leaders, staff and residents.

But while hundreds of protesters brought traffic to standstill during a protest march through Taunton town centre, the expected influx of demonstrators at the full council meeting failed to materialise.

Three additional committee rooms had been set aside in County Hall to enable people to watch events unfold live via a video-link to Shire Hall.

In the event, just 40 turned up to watch the Tory majority vote through £43 million of cuts, plus a further £30 million over the next three years.

Council leader Cllr Ken Maddock said the authority had no choice but to impose swingeing cuts in the wake of central Government's Comprehensive Spending Review which outlined a 7.1 per cent drop in local authority funding every year for the next four years

Options on the table included the loss of more than 700 staff posts by next April, a £46 million cut in the roads maintenance budget over the next three years and major reductions in adult social care and subsidised bus travel for students.

Some libraries and youth clubs will now be closed and all county council funding for police community support officers stopped, potentially leading to the loss of ten posts.

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

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

Vital infrastructure funding for community organisations, including Councils for Voluntary Service such as West Somerset's Engage CVS, will also end.

The county council's chief executive warned that the cuts were just one step on a "long and arduous journey", but pledged to ensure the "vulnerable are protected".

Representatives from West Somerset organisations, including Engage and the Seahorses Day Centre in Minehead, have already said they fear the worst in light of the cuts.