FORTNIGHTLY rubbish collections have been consigned to the bin for another year as West Somerset Council faces making service cutbacks across the board in a battle to save up to £500,000.

The recession, low interest rates, cuts in Government grants and increased overheads have been blamed for adding to the authority's already dire financial problems.

As the authority faces the prospect of more outgoings than income, services look set to be prioritised with those at the bottom of the pile likely to be cut.

According to finance chiefs, around £70,000 will have to be saved this year, rising to an estimated £246,000 next year, and between £424,000 and £538,000 over the following three years.

But although the mere suggestion of axing fortnightly wheelie bin collections to save money caused outrage and prompted a cabinet resignation just two months ago, there was hardly a murmur of discontent when the topic was discussed last week.

In March, Cllr Jon Freeman quit the ruling cabinet in protest at plans to cut costs by ditching the introduction of new recycling services next year - just three months after the proposals were originally agreed.

The Porlock member branded the authority as "a broken little council" and said he was "livid" that officers had asked councillors to delay the phased introduction of the Sort It Plus wheelie bin waste and recycling scheme until 2011-12 without any prior explanation or discussion.

But by the time the matter came back to the table last Thursday, members of the council's scrutiny committee appeared to accept the authority could not afford to introduce the scheme after being painted a particularly gloomy picture by finance chief Jacky Barnes.

She said "revised assumptions" had been made in drawing up the authority's medium term financial plan since the committee last met and these had assumed less income and more outgoings.

But she conceded the figures did not take into account possible income from the sale of assets including the former council offices in Blenheim Road, Minehead, and the multi-million pound plot of housing land off Seaward Way in Minehead.

She told the committee the introduction of Sort It Plus had been agreed on condition it was affordable and added: "Clearly it won't be."

In a report to the committee she said: "The next five years will be a very difficult time financially for the council with a material shortfall of resources, both capital and revenue.

"The best case scenario is that the council will need to make at least £420,000 in savings over the next three years to achieve a balanced budget.

"To make savings on this scale the council will need to start planning now and be prepared to make some difficult decisions."

Cllr Keith Turner was a lone voice in the meeting when he questioned the financial implications of delaying the introduction of Sort It Plus.

He also accused the authority of basing the original financial plan on vastly inflated and incorrect claims that interest rates were around the six per cent mark at the end of last year.

He was told the authority had been acting on the best advice available at the time and officers were already working behind the scenes to identify savings.

But Cllr Ian Melhuish said: "If the money coming in doesn't equal the money going out we can fiddle about with it until we're blue in the face.

"I think we should do the National Lottery or something. I don't think any of these little things will make much difference."

But he was warned thatif swift action was not taken to build up the authority's meagre reserves and return the council to a "level playing field" by 2013-14, the Government would "walk in and take over".

Council leader Cllr Keith Ross said West Somerset was not the only council in financial trouble in the country and believed true savings could be found through partnership working, most notably through the Pioneer Somerset initiative.

"Perhaps we should put our hands in the air but before we get there I don't think we should despair.

"Pioneer Somerset is designed to deliver better services across Somerset and reduce overheads.

"If that doesn't work, then we will have to throw our arms up in the air."