COUNCILLORS are considering cuts to public spending as part of plans to save £10m from the budget.

Despite a significant increase in demand, West Berkshire Council (WBC) is being forced to strip a significant amount of money from frontline services across the district.

The council is expected to have around £123m to spend on services and it is in the process of balancing the books for the 2018/19 budget.

Initial plans include reducing funding to Citizens Advice from £120,000 to £40,000 and to introduce an annual garden waste collection fee of £50 to generate £900,000 per year.

Councillor Graham Jones, leader of the council, said: "Every year our communities are asking more from the services we provide but we are receiving less money to provide those services.

"We have looked first at how the council can work differently by becoming more efficient and by working more closely with other local authorities and with our communities.

"Our priority has been to protect those services which support the most vulnerable people in our communities, but it is inevitable that there will be an impact on some other services.

"Although we have set out our proposals for next year, it is important we give communities the chance to tell us how they will be impacted and what might be done to alleviate the impact of any decisions before we decide how to proceed."

Over the last eight years, WBC has been forced to find savings of £55m, with Revenue Support Grant - worth £33.7m to the council in 2011/12 - expected to fall to just £100,000 by 2018/19.

Other cost-cutting measures include posting orange site notices instead of sending out planning application notices directly, which is expected to save £17,500 a year.

A review of ward boundaries, which will see the number of district councillors reduce from 52 to 43, will come into effect and start delivering savings from next year.

A public consultation on the proposals has been launched and is open until January 10.

Visit: www.westberks.gov.uk/budgetproposals to view the council's suggestions.