Front line council services will be cut and thousands of workers are set to lose their jobs as recession-hit town halls struggle with a £1 billion black hole.
A Daily Telegraph investigation has established that local authorities in England and Wales are slashing budgets by up to 10 per cent, with social services, education and transport bearing the brunt of the cuts.
Councils also revealed that they were planning to claw back some of their losses by increasing charges for facilities such as car parking and cutting services such as lollipop ladies and meals on wheels.
Many authorities insist that the cuts are necessary to compensate for a lower than average government grant settlement, at a time when demand for services, such as care homes and advice centres, is rising as the pressures of the recession bite.
A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: "Income is falling away very sharply at a time when more and more people are turning to councils for help."
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