PENDLE councillors have given a stark warning to residents about the financial crisis facing the borough.

The council needs to save almost £5million over the next two years and £7million over three years as it comes to terms with a reduction in grant of more than 60 per cent.

Council bosses have warned residents that some frontline services will be cut as a result, but plans to start charging for some waste and recycling services were rejected last week.

Conservative councillor Graham Waugh compared the council’s current plight to that of the Titanic. He said: “As a council we are going broke. Pendle has links with the Titanic, and at the moment we are on the Titanic and at the moment, three or four years down the road we are going to hit that iceberg.

“We can stand on the back while Wallace Hartley plays or we can try and do something about it. It is as simple as that.”

Liberal Democrat leader Coun Tony Greaves voted against plans to introduce the waste and recycling charges, but admitted the issue may need to be looked at again in two to three years.

He said: “I am not sure all members of this council are actually aware of the difficulties this council is in.

“We will not be able to continue to provide all the services we have in the past.

“The size of the council’s grant is to fall by over 60 per cent in the next years and the council’s budget is going to almost halve.

“The scale of the problem is so great that the very existence of this council is in doubt along with the other East Lancashire districts. That is the dreadful state we are in.”