PUBLIC spending in West Somerset will continue to be squeezed in the coming year as local authorities grapple with Government cuts that will curb their spending power.

The funding grants settlement for 2015/16 announced late last week means West Somerset Council - the smallest district council in England - will see its share of annual Government cash slashed by 14.1 per cent.

But although this equates to £323,779 and comes on top of large reductions in Government funding West Somerset has experienced in recent years, the cut is not as bad as council chiefs feared.

Due to an increase in money for rural authorities, the 2015/16 reduction is less than the 15.5 per cent initially predicted.

However, council leader Cllr Tim Taylor warned that the authority still faced challenges both now and longer term.

Meanwhile, Somerset County Council leader Cllr John Osman said he was "deeply disappointed" with what he described as the Government's unfair funding settlement, which has left the authority with £1 million less than predicted in central financial support.

The unexpected reduction follows a £21 million drop in Government funding for the county council in 2015/16, down from £63 million this year to £42.3 million.

"Not only has the Government failed to redress its unfair funding across the rural South West authorities, in its bias towards England's South East and North it is effectively acting to send what is much-needed Somerset taxpayers' money to elsewhere in the country," said Cllr Osman.

He said, although £1 million might not seem vast in the grand scheme, the cut hid a much bigger issue and took no account of the rising cost of delivering services, nor the relentlessly increasing demand for services.

Cllr Osman said the preferred measure used by the Government, looking at councils' overall spending power - a calculation that factors in a range of income streams - appeared to paint a positive picture for Somerset but was not a true indicator of the challenges facing the county council.

Local authority funding is complex, comprising of a number of elements including Revenue Support Grant - direct Government funding - business rates ad the New Homes Bonus (NHB).

The NHB is money received for each new home built or empty property brought back into use and for West Somerset the allocation for the coming year is £571,015 - slightly more than forecast.

And for a further year the Government has announced it will provide a grant - equivalent to a one per cent rise - to councils that freeze Council Tax.

West Somerset took advantage of the incentive last year, as did the county council, but will not make a decision on setting its Council Tax share for the coming year until February.

But, as previously, any authority wanting to increase Council Tax by two per cent or more will have to hold a referendum.

West Somerset is currently in the early stages of budget setting but is already looking at increasing car parking charges and other fees whilst cutting grants to charities in a bid to balance its books for the new financial year.

It is also continuing to make savings through sharing management and staff with Taunton Deane Borough Council, which is facing a funding reduction of 15.5 per cent - £803,811 - compared to the current year.

Cllr Taylor said over recent years West Somerset had done well to maintain the essential services residents valued, despite huge reductions in its Government funding.

"Through our partnership with Taunton Deane Borough Council, sensible planning and prudent stewardship, we are able to set a balanced budget for 2015/16 and continue to protect local services," he said.

"This is a considerable success story of which we are all proud."