PLANS to save millions of pounds by slashing vital services and increasing council tax in Hampshire have moved a step forward.

Cabinet members at Hampshire County Council have backed proposals aimed at reducing the authority’s overall spending by £140m by April 2019.

The proposal, discussed and supported by councillors during a cabinet meeting held on Monday, includes £56m cuts to social care services, £30m cuts to children’s services and £1.2m cuts to school crossing patrols.

Subsidised bus services and community transport could also lose entire funding to save £4m, while up to a half of the county’s recycling centres could be closed and the hours of the rest cut to save £1.2m.

County council leader Roy Perry asked officers to look into whether there are other ways of achieving some of their proposed economies.

But he also stressed the need to find a way to deal with the pressure coming from reduced grants from the Government, rising inflation and increases in the number of adults needing care.

He confirmed that the authority will have to look at raising council tax by the maximum amount allowed without having a referendum.

If the cuts plan is given the go-ahead next month, funding to support organisations and charities who provide youth and support services to children and young people could also be cut.

The whole children’s social care operating model could also be reshaped.

The authority aims to reduce the number of children going into care by 410 by 2021 and develop a new social care IT system.

During the meeting, Lib Dem councillor Alan Dowden expressed concern about the impact on social care services: “You are challenging social care budgets at a time when demand increases for them.”

Janet Chierchia, a trustee of Winchester Go LD, which supports people with learning disabilities, is urging a rethink: “If they cut the services what will happen to those vulnerable people? They are already struggling.

“If they cut more services there will be a lot more safeguarding issues they’ll have to deal with. They have to balance the books, I understand that, but it’s how they balance the books that makes a difference.”

Yesterday’s meeting of Hampshire’s Conservative cabinet confirmed that they will go ahead with their reckless £140 million cuts that will only cost us extra longer-term.

In particular, their cuts to health and care will mean that the NHS is unable to hit the financial targets laid out in its ‘sustainability and transformation plan’ - and will put health and care services under even more stress.

Their cuts to Household Waste Recovery Centres are almost certain to lead to more fly-tipping.

In a surprise decision, the Cabinet voted to recommend extra money to support parish and town councils in covering for services cut by Hampshire - such as community transport, school crossing patrols and subsidised bus services - however the Conservatives still have not put anything in place to support the many areas of Hampshire without parish and town councils - such as Winchester.

There’s also still no sign that they are taking any account of the impact of the cuts in less well-off areas of Hampshire.

Martin Tod, Lib Dem councillor for Winchester Westgate, said: “We’re paying the price for the Conservatives’ incompetent and chaotic management of Brexit and the economy. This has led to collapsing investment, the lowest growth in both the EU and the G7 and rapidly growing inflation. Aside from the effect on people’s cost of living and the very real threat to businesses and jobs, this utter incompetence makes it even harder to tackle the crisis in funding for council services.”

These cuts are a disaster of the Conservatives’ making - Conservative MPs, Conservative Ministers and Conservative Councillors have all contributed to this fiasco - and it will hit local people hard. The Conservatives are now compounding their failure by deciding not to have any kind of plan for the many areas of Hampshire without parish and town councils.

This is a real threat to Winchester - and, along with my colleagues, I will continue to push for the council to put in place a plan for unparished areas - and to stop the most damaging of their proposed cuts.

The proposals will be discussed by full council on November 2.