PUBLIC services in Cumbria are set to face further widespread cuts after the county council slashed its budget by £25million.

Householders will also face a council tax hike of 3.99 per cent, as councillors approved a 1.99 per cent general increase and a further two per cent rise to go specifically towards adult social care services.

But proposals to close five fire stations, including Staveley and Arnside, were scrapped in an earlier U-turn.

Protestors from trade union Unison gathered outside Kendal’s county hall before the meeting to voice their displeasure at the ‘extremely devastating cuts’.

Assistant branch secretary Billy Wood said: “We appreciate many of the members will be doing this reluctantly, but already our vital public services are at breaking point and the position is only worsening.”

Among the cost-cutting measures is a £5million reduction in adult social care spending, which aims to reduce the number of care home placements.

But leader of the Tory opposition Cllr James Airey accused the ruling Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition in charge of being ‘vague and misleading’ during the budget consultation.

He said: “The consultation documents were lovely glossy publications, yet residents hadn’t a clue where the cuts were coming from. There are £5m of savings from adult social care that we still have no clarity on.”

Cllr Patricia Bell, deputy leader of the authority and cabinet member responsible for finance, told the meeting that seven consecutive years of funding cuts from central government had left CCC “with little option but to raise council tax by the maximum amount allowed in order to protect frontline services.”

Council leader, Labour’s Stewart Young, explained the council had already agreed £152million in savings since 2011 but now needed to find a further £73million over the next three years.

An alternative Conservative budget was proposed, which included a new £250,000 funding pot to support rural buses, the re-introduction of post-16 home-to-college transport, an extra £2million for work on drainage and gullies as part of flood recovery work and closing ‘under-used’ care homes.

But the Tories’ amendments were defeated, with Cllr Young calling them ‘unrealistic’.

After several hours of debate, the administration’s budget was agreed with 51 votes for to 22 against.