TOWNS and parishes across West Somerset will have to face up to the true cost of caring for their local environment in the next few months with local taxpayers paying the price for services from grass cutting to street cleaning.

Massive spending cuts imposed by county and district authorities will begin to bite on the ground with communities having to prioritise areas they want to see maintained.

West Somerset Council's lead member for finance Cllr Kate Kravis revealed this week that talks would get underway with town and parish councils in coming months in the start of a 'devolution and delegation' debate.

Minehead - the district's biggest town - is the first to come under the spotlight, with town councillors warned on Wednesday that frontline services from the maintenance of Blenheim Gardens, regarded as one of the jewels in the tourism crown, to litter picking under threat.

Cllr Kravis told councillors that the district authority was facing unprecedented cuts over the next four years.

And she said frontline services would begin to feel the impact in the 2012/13 financial year.

"It would be foolish to think that we can continue with all the services that we currently do," she said.

"I have come to speak to you because I want to see services continue, not because I want to see them stopped - but I am a realist.

"We are not just going to stop them - but we need to talk to make sure that we prioritise the services that residents want."

Cllr Kravis and senior officers have already held an initial meeting with Minehead's deputy mayor Cllr Les Smith and clerk Sue Sanders, with a further meeting planned later this month.

But Cllr Simon Stokes accused the district of trying to being in taxation through the back door by making town and parish councils pick up the tab simply because they were not subject to capping levels on their precepts.

"I am very concerned about this - we would probably have to put up our precept by around 300 per cent," he said.

"This is very dangerous ground for us. Yes, we want to work together but you are asking a bunch of volunteers and one officer to manage what the district council is too small to cope with."

Cllr Stokes said the areas under threat were all owned by the district council, not the town council.

Cllr Mandy Chilcott, who chairs the town council's finance committee, said the thought of taking on responsibility for the services outlined "worries me sick".

She said a rough estimate of the grounds maintenance responsibilities alone - without street cleaning, litter and dog bins and public toilet costs currently provided under contract to the district by environmental services company Veolia - came to at least half a million pounds.

She said the failure to maintain Blenheim Gardens or keep Minehead's streets clean would have an effect on every business in the town.

"It would be disastrous," said Cllr Chilcott.

"I am not saying things cannot be streamlined but we are talking huge amounts of money here that can only come from the pockets of people in the town.

"We would have to double, if not treble, our precept and these figures do not show the whole picture, the whole cost."

Cllr Chilcott said the town council would need larger offices and more staff, which would be a "huge stretch" as the authority was currently working at capacity.

"There are some very difficult decisions to make and I only hope and pray that we can keep services going.

"My hope is that they (the district) are not going to cut everything."

But Cllr Smith said it was impossible to predict at this stage what services the town would have to take over.

And Cllr Stan Taylor said he could see at a glance a number of areas which could be cut back.

"We need to prioritise and draw up something so the new council in place after the elections in May will have something to go on," said Cllr Taylor.

"And then they will have to go through it with a fine tooth comb."

Cllr Kravis said she wanted the council's blessing to continue discussions.

"We are simply trying to lay the ground," she said.

"This is just the start of what is going to be a long conversation over the next six months and nothing is being proposed at the moment."