The Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review has left Shropshire Council in a “challenging position”, leader Keith Barrow has admitted.

But Alan Mosley, leader of the opposition Labour group, went further, warning the spending review proposals will devastate Shropshire’s public services.

Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles warned that it was up to local authorities to manage the cuts and make savings wherever possible to ensure frontline services such as bin collections and road improvements were not hit by merging back-office functions, he said.

“Gone are the days in which you can expect to enjoy your own chief executive, your own top officers, your own separate departments,” he said.

“We expect you to start merging your departments, having joint officers, in order to protect out frontline services. There is too much duplication.”

As part of the spending review, Shropshire Council is looking to make savings of £60 million over the next three years.

Councillor Barrow said the authority was committed to delivering the “highest standards” of service it can afford and had prepared for the review.

“We now need to review the detail within the Comprehensive Spending Review to be clear that we adopt a consistent approach to the savings required, ensuring the minimum impact on the people who work, live and visit our county,” he said.

Devastating

“This is a challenging position that we find ourselves in, but we want to assure residents of Shropshire that we are committed to delivering the highest standard of service that we can afford.”

Councillor Mosley, speaking shortly after the review proposals were announced in parliament, said: “It is a devastating day for many of our public services in Shropshire.

“It is very worrying,” he said. “The spending review will have a significant impact in reducing the public sector in Shropshire and there will also be a serious impact on many families in the county, particularly those on the lower end of the income scale.

“We believe that the cuts announced by the Chancellor are going too far, too quickly, and will endanger the economy.”

But Shropshire chief fire officer, Paul Raymond, whose service is looking to find £3 million savings, sounded a more optimistic note.

He said he was relieved that Government departmental spending cuts were not bigger than had been expected.

Mr Raymond said that budget reductions for fire authorities were going to be limited in return for “significant” operational reforms.

Details of the reforms would not be known until November and the county brigade would have to wait until December for specific details of the funding reduction it faced.

But Mr Raymond added: “We are fairly confident we can continue to deliver a quality service.”