BUS routes will be scrapped and care scaled back for thousands of elderly people after Lancashire County Council unveiled full details of £179million spending cuts.

County Hall bosses revealed the drastic proposals, which are expected to lead to massive job losses, for the first time this afternoon.

No department has been left out of the list of cuts, which includes:

• Cuts to 16 bus services, including school services.

• No longer offering care services to 3,900 people whose needs are assessed as ‘moderate’, rather than ‘critical’.

• A hike in the charges for day care services, meals on wheels and home care.

• The closure of five of the county’s 15 children’s homes, leading to a reduction in the number of places available from 90 to 60.

• The closure of a further four household waste recycling centres, in addition to the four already closing this year.

Bosses admit that £97million of the cuts will affect services, while another £7.3million will come from increased fees and charges to taxpayers.

A consultation will now be held before a final decision is made in March on the cuts which will take place over the next three years from April.

Conservative council leader Geoff Driver said reductions of £179million from the previous budget of £725million left him with little choice.

The county council runs most services in Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire and Wyre.

It employs 24,000 non-teaching staff.

Council tax is likely to be frozen for the next three years.

A 78-page document was presented to councillors at a meeting at County Hall in Preston this afternoon.

It was the first time the opposition councillors had seen the proposals.

Labour group leader Jennifer Mein accused the national coalition Government of making cuts ‘too hard and too fast’, placing councils in an impossible financial position.

She singled out the proposal to raise the level of entitlement to social care, branding it ‘shocking’.

She added: “I knew it was going to be bad but I didn’t expect it to be this bad.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Bill Winrow said he was worried about the levels of staff reductions suggested by the cuts.

Despite being pressed to be more specific, Coun Driver refused to reveal his estimate of the number of jobs that would go, and challenged the other parties to put forward alternative proposals.

Speaking after the meeting, he said: “Adult social care is one of those areas where we are having to make reductions in service where perhaps we hadn’t wanted to.

“But this is a financial scenario we can’t do anything about.”

Huge savings have already been made in management costs, he insisted.

Highways chief Tim Ashton said he regretted the bus route cuts.

The routes singled out for cuts - some of which are set to be scrapped altogether - are those that have not been well used enough to recoup 40 per cent of the cost of supporting them.

Coun Ashton added: “I didn’t stand for election to do things like this.”

The changes proposed also include cutting £25million over three years from the fees paid by the council to companies that provide homes and care for vulnerable adults, which could trigger a price rise for residents.

The levels of transport offered to day care users would be reduced and a charge introduced, and a reduction in the number of social workers has been proposed.

There will be also be a 20 per cent cut in the amount spent on non-residential care, leading to a reduction in the number of services offered.

The library service looks certain to be scaled back, although bosses insist none will close.

Arts groups will suffer a £200,000 cut in grants, equivalent to a 30per cent reduction over two years; some street lights will be dimmed or switched off at night to save £500,000 a year; and the road safety budget will be cut by £270,000, hitting courses that take place in schools.

Among the new fees to be introduced are car parking charges in country parks and picnic sites.

Almost 70 per cent of the £179million savings forecast are to come from service reductions, according to a report presented to councillors.

But finance chief Phil Halsall, who is soon to take over as chief executive, said this would fall to just over 50 per cent once efficiency savings had been factored in.