ST HELENS Council has warned of a "very different future" as the authority attempts to paint a picture of the services it will provide in 2020.

Council members were briefed at today's cabinet meeting as to what St Helens residents might expect from their local council five years from now – in the face of severe funding cuts from central government.

In a statement issued ahead of the meeting, council leader Barrie Grunewald said: “By 2020 we expect that we will have had to make savings of £40 million. It means our funding will have been more than halved since 2010.

“The next round of savings will see £23 million taken away from us over the next two years. 

"The election result was, unfortunately, a mandate for more of the same. Local government will not be protected and it’s going to be a very different future – both for us and many of our residents.”

As funding decreases and the effects of changes to the welfare system kick in, the council said in a statement it believes "it is almost inevitable that more services will have to be commissioned via third parties, while revenue generating opportunities will have to be seized at every opportunity".

Priority services will have to be supported – including children and young people, environment protection, adult care and health, public health and economic growth.

Councillor Grunewald said:“We are going to have to build on our reputation as an adaptive and innovative borough and take it a stage further.

“Unfortunately the sort of discretionary activity that we’ve been able to provide up to now will become unsustainable and we will have to re-think our whole approach – focusing on the provision of services to those who need them most.”