BLACKBURN with Darwen has unveiled a drastic programme of £4million cuts — and bosses are warning it is just the start.

A popular leisure centre faces the axe, and community centres and libraries are also under threat throughout the borough.

But the £4million cuts, to be agreed next Thursday, represent just 10 per cent of what town hall bosses are planning long-term.

Every single service provided, including King George's Hall, is under review ahead of the next wave of cuts.

The first raft includes:

  • The closure of Shadsworth Leisure Centre
  • Cancelling funding for all 16 community centres, which will close unless local groups can take over running them
  • A formal review of all the borough’s library services
  • Closing 'pay points' at Blackburn and Darwen town halls. Residents will be told to pay council tax in newsagents and post offices
  • New charges for bulky waste collection and replacement wheelie bins
  • Increased charges for all council services as a result of the VAT increase to 20per cent from January

Conservative council leader Mike Lee admitted: “None of us signed up for this kind of thing.”

He said it was too soon to predict numbers of job losses, but was 'under no illusions'.

Coun Lee said the cuts were needed to respond to the new government’s demand for savings.

But opposition Labour members accused the leadership of 'hiding behind government cuts' to balance the books.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw branded the scale of the council’s cuts 'preposterous'.

He said: “We have always accepted the need to generate efficiencies.

"But the council has not shown intelligent custody of public money.”

Chancellor George Osborne has told each Government department to look for 25 per cent savings in an attempt to deal with the country’s record deficit.

But because some areas - including the NHS - have been protected from cuts, experts say councils are facing up to 40 per cent.

Blackburn with Darwen anticipates needing to save as much as £40million over the next few years - and every single service the council provides is under review.

Protesters are expected at Thursday’s meeting of Blackburn with Darwen’s executive board, where the savings plan - which covers the immediate spending cuts - will be rubber-stamped.

The £4million also includes cash saved by giving early retirement to more than 60 long-serving staff, and controversial plans to hand control of the adult social care department to a 'social enterprise'.

The council has confirmed the introduction of the government’s two-year pay freeze for council workers earning over £21,000.

Those earning less will be given £250.

Staff have been told of the cutbacks this week at a series of briefings by chief executive Graham Burgess.

The final slide in the presentation says: “Remember - 20 per cent out of our glass still leaves it more than half full.”

Labour group leader Kate Hollern said the scale of cuts needed was 'frightening', adding: “This is nothing to do with the national scene.

"It’s about the council not being prudent.”

But Coun Lee, who claimed Labour would have been forced into similar cuts, said: “This is nothing at all about the last few years.

"Our budgets have been balanced all the way through.

“The majority is about the government cuts, which is about sorting out the mess the Labour government left.”

He admitted all other council facilities, including other leisure centres and King George’s Hall, were being looked at as the town hall looks for savings in future years.

Cuts elsewhere

Yesterday, the Lancashire Telegraph exclusively revealed that Lancashire police chiefs were facing cutting 600 staff and 400 officers to save £45million over four years.

Lancashire County Council - the area's main local authority outside Blackburn with Darwen - and East Lancashire borough councils, are facing the same pressures, but have yet to go public with their plans.

Hyndburn Council leader Peter Britcliffe claimed his authority would be able to find savings without cutting front-line services, and said he didn’t want to 'panic' residents and staff.