County Faces Cash Crisis

County council leader Harold Hall said the fabric of services could come under an assault as devastating as the tornado that once hit the seaside town of Selsey. This could be coupled with double-figure council tax increases.

Council chairman Margaret Johnson said: "It is vital to alert West Sussex residents to the threat we are all facing.

"This is not a single-party issue, but across all the parties of the county council."

The concern focuses on government proposals for major changes in local government finance.

With the constituencies of a number of senior Labour politicians, including the Prime Minister's, set to benefit handsomely, at the expense of other areas, including West Sussex, some changes seem almost certain.

The question is how far the government will go and it looks likely that the options for West Sussex will range from bad to horrendous.

The worst case scenario would be a loss of 50million, which equals a council tax rise of more than 30 per cent. In practice, the county would probably be forced to implement a mixture of sweeping service cuts and hefty tax rises.

Mr Hall said West Sussex would be one of the worst affected areas if the proposals were fully implemented. Government grants would be moved away from counties, especially those in the south, to urban authorities in London and the north.

These grants represented more than 60 per cent of the money the county council spent on services.

The best it could expect was 20million less, which would equate to 13million less in services. A 30million loss of grant would mean service cuts of 19million, and the worst case scenario of a 50million loss equalled 32million less for services.

The only way to maintain services would be to jack up council tax by up to 30 per cent a year. But this did not take account of inflation and additional prices in the pipeline, such as wage increases in the public sector and increased costs for materials.

Spelling out the impact of major cuts, Mr Hall said youth wings and youth clubs would be very much at risk, as would adult education and music tuition, as the county sought to protect school funding.

A range of options would have to be considered for social services, with day centres and children's homes under serious consideration.

"We might even have to close every family centre in the county," said Mr Hall.

Library closures could be possible, with smaller libraries at risk, and fire cover could also be affected.

There could be less support for children with special educational needs and it was not out of the question that schools could lose teachers.

Highways maintenance budgets could also face big reductions.

Mr Hall said this was not just a shift from county councils in the south to other councils elsewhere in the country. It was also a shift from central government funding to local taxation. West Sussex was particularly aware of the effect of tax on pensioners, with 170,000 people of pensionable age in the county.