AN Exmoor community which has pioneered the Government's 'Big Society' came out fighting this week with a rearguard action to save major services vital to its economic future.

At least 200 people packed a public meeting in Dulverton, which is threatened with losing its household waste recycling centre, its youth club and the management of its car parks in the wake of massive local authority spending cuts.

Bus services could also be hit, while the future of the parish lengthsman scheme - an initiative involving 11 Exmoor parishes and aimed at improving the environment - is uncertain.

The town's library was also set to lose all its public funding until a u-turn by Somerset County Council announced literally at the 11th hour on the day of the meeting.

Cllr Chris Nelder, chairman of Dulverton Town Council, which is spearheading the fight-back, told the meeting on Tuesday that the loss of such major services would put the town at risk of economic meltdown.

But he said, although the future looked bleak, he hoped the challenges faced would lead to a community programme of action.

And the message to the meeting was: 'Keep them open and keep them here.'

Cllr Nelder said Dulverton people currently managed or owned 24 of the town's public facilities, ranging from the town hall and heritage centre to the recreation grounds, cemetery and sports facilities.

"Local people are experts in what works best here. We also pay Council Taxes for public services.

"Now we need to decide what the priorities are for that Council Tax."

Dulverton is one of nine areas in the country currently taking part in a pilot project, Your Local Budget, looking at developing new ways of involving local people in tough spending decisions and finding innovative and effective solutions to the financial and other challenges facing public authorities.

Town councillor Les Silverlock told the meeting: "We invented the Big Society here in Dulverton - we are used to running things and we want to have a say in how some of the £10 million a year that is currently invested in the town by nine public authorities is spent."

Local people vented their anger at the decisions which had led Dulverton facing the potential loss of so many services, claiming the town was being "picked on" and treated unfairly.

And in a series of votes, they overwhelmingly backed moves to save them - with the possibility of more local involvement in running them - and agreed to set up action groups and mount a lobbying campaign.

The town's recycling centre is one of four initially earmarked for closure because of county council cutbacks.

It costs £76,000 a year to run but shifts an estimated 12,000 tons of waste each year - 79 per cent of which is recycled and has an end use.

Its closure would leave local people facing a 35-mile round trip to Minehead and, critics predict, lead to more fly tipping.

Cllr Nelder said if the town managed the site it could save jobs, make money, serve local businesses, as well as households, and recycle furniture and white goods too big for the charity shops.

Local county councillor Frances Nicholson, who represents Dulverton and Exmoor, said she believed there was a "better than half and half chance" of the recycling centre remaining open and that the Somerset Waste partnership, which operates the facility, was aware of the strong feeling locally.

The meeting called for the necessary savings to be met by "shrinking" opening hours across all recycling centres in the county and also for the introduction of a £1 charge to be considered.

Meanwhile, young people demonstrated their strength of feeling over the threatened closure of Dulverton's youth club by turning out in force, speaking their minds and making impassioned pleas.

Frontline youth workers are set to lose their jobs and there is also uncertainty over the future of the Riverside club building.

More than a dozen of the 50-strong membership attended the meeting and voiced their fears for the future of young people in the town if the facility was lost.

Sam Preston said the youth leaders and the friends he had made at the club were like family and the facility was a crucial cog in Dulverton's wheels.

"Dulverton would be a poorer place if we lost it," he said.

The club is run by a charitable trust but receives around £12,000 in county council funding.

Club spokesman Jo Hoare said around £30,000 a year was needed to keep it going and the meeting voted overwhelmingly to keep as much of the current programme as possible, to explore alternative funding sources and to investigate the possible transfer of the building.

Cllr Nicholson described the cuts in the youth service countywide - 50 per cent in the coming financial year, followed by a further 25 per cent the following year as "very unfortunate."

But she said money had to be made available for vital child protection work and she pledged: "We will try our best to find a way forward."

The meeting was told that losing the management of Dulverton's three car parks would result in a £10,000 loss in income for the town council, which has run them for the past 15 years.

Under a current agreement, the town council pays West Somerset Council - which owns them - £22,000 a year in rent and they generate around £45,000 in income.

Cllr Nelder said the district wanted to take them back in house, with responsibility for on-street parking responsibility passing from the police to the county council.

Cllr Nelder said Dulverton wanting to manage its car parks and on-street parking to keep costs down, resist expensive centralisation and keep traffic moving.

The town council had offered an additional £8,000 in rent and a 50/50 share in the profits in the hope of retaining management for a further year when new legislation under the Localism Bill should make it easier to win devolved powers to run services.

The meeting gave its support to the town council's fight, with Cllr Nelder telling the meeting he hoped to know the outcome of the latest offer within the next few days.

But one battle the meeting did not have to fight was the previously proposed closure of Dulverton's library.

County heritage and libraries officer Tom Mayberry was greeted with cheers when he revealed the latest proposals for swingeing cuts to the library service would see the town's library remaining fully funded.

He said following consultations, the voice of the people of Somerset had come back loud and clear - even through the harsh winter weather and with Christmas intervening.

"The opinions expressed were pretty clear," said Dr Mayberry.

"This is good news for Dulverton."