COUNCIL services in Reading face nearly £20m in spending cuts over the next four years.

The measures include a drop of almost £6m in the children's services sector and at least 200 jobs - around a tenth of authority's non-school staff - are expected to go.

Leader of the council Cllr Jo Lovelock said the decisions being proposed had been "very difficult" but came in the wake of their finances from central government being slashed.

The whole package of cuts is due to come into effect by the end of the 2019/20 financial year but will still leave Reading Borough Council with a further £17m hole in its budget.

All areas of public spending face at least some level of impact and many of the plans will go out to public consultation in the coming months if the council's policy committee agrees to the proposals.

It comes on top of the £65m and 600 jobs that have already been cut since 2011.

Among the plans are:

  • a £2.4m cut to fostering and adoption services
  • relocating services so buildings can be sold off including Yeomanry House and
  • stopping council tax reductions for landlords who own more than one home
  • axing the ReadyBike scheme unless a sponsor can be found
  • boosting income through parking and highways services
  • improving recycling rates to cut down on landfill charges.

Cllr Lovelock said: "We all found it a very, very difficult process to even get to this stage and we know we have to look at further proposals later in the year.

"Some of the proposals here are about moving forward and using new technologies but there is also direct cuts to services across the board."

She added that uncertainty over future investment in local government and the changing financial picture following last month's Brexit vote raised further questions about the way council services are run in the years to come.

The bundle of more than 100 separate proposals also includes changes ranging from bus passes only being permitted for use after 9.30 am and increased charges for certain services including blue badge permits and the crematorium.

To see the full document online visit www.reading.gov.uk/media/5708/item09-2/pdf/item09_(2).pdf