FRONTLINE services could be hit if West Somerset Council is forced to cut all non-statutory spending to balance its books.

Councillors openly admitted this week they were seriously worried about the future and warned all the “nicer things” could go, meaning charity grants could be axed and public toilets closed.

“We are going to have to make some unpleasant decisions but we have to do what we have to do,” council leader Cllr Anthony Trollope-Bellew told Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.

“Things we really don’t want to cut are going to have to be cut.”

As revealed in the Free Press last week, the authority has been devastated by Government-led changes to the business rates system, which have resulted in scores of firms appealing their rates ratings – including the district’s most significant employer, Hinkley Point B.

As a result, the power station’s owner EDF Energy’s annual business rates bill has been reduced to £3.9 million and the rating backdated to 2010 - effectively costing West Somerset £313,000 a year in lost income.

Councillors were told the authority had been putting aside money to cover the cost of anticipated business rates appeals for a number of years but no one had expected the Hinkley B figure to be so high or to be backdated to 2010.

And they were warned that in all they would have to find an estimated £565,748 in savings in the next financial year alone.

“That’s 12 per cent of our overall £4.8 million budget we have to save, having already saved 27 per cent over the last few years,” Cllr Trollope-Bellew said.

Finance lead member Cllr Mandy Chilcott said the news was particularly galling when every council department had saved money and underspent budgets.

She said: “This may well affect our frontline services but we will do all we can to prevent that.

“We will have to look at our priorities as we cannot continue as we are.

“We are going to have to make some changes to remain viable.

“We are going to have to look at what we deliver, how we deliver it and if we can continue to deliver it.”

Having faced financial ruin just a few years ago, the council put itself on a firmer financial footing by joining forces with neighbouring Taunton Deane Borough Council.

The link up saved West Somerset more than £121,600 last year alone.

But Cllr Chilcott said the Government was continuing to slash the authority’s funding while costs kept going up.

“Joint working has worked splendidly and gone very smoothly but it’s sad to see the impact of it has been wiped out by this.

“Without this we would have been reporting an underspend on budgets.

“We have a huge mountain to climb but we will climb it bit by bit,” Cllr Chilcott said.

Cllr David Westcott said he was more concerned about the financial state of the council now than at any other point in the last eight years of his time as a councillor.

“My cup has always been half full when we went through difficult decisions before, but now I see it as two thirds empty and whether we can recover . . . I am very worried indeed,” he said.

Cllr Martin Dewdney added: “It’s at the point that statutory services get delivered but anything nicer to do will just go out the window.

“However, I think we’re up to the challenge.”