COLCHESTER Council is planning on freezing council tax next year despite suffering more funding cuts.

It was announced yesterday the Government would be cutting another £1.3million – or 15.3 per cent – in its grant next year to the council.

But the council said it is not planning to pass on the loss to taxpayers.

Leader Martin Hunt was hopeful jobs and services would be safe, but said the council is struggling to cope with another round of cuts.

He said: “Public services are being put in jeopardy.

“Every service is being strangled and this can’t go on.

“There is a belief among some that between 2017 and 2020 the amount given to councils could be nothing.

“After years of reducing staff, we’ve gone about as far as we can and may even have to look to fill some posts.”

The cut is broadly what was expected by the council and will be topped up by the New Homes Bonus.

The bonus is a grant paid to councils for increasing the number of homes in use – either by new homes being built or by bringing older ones back into use.

It was supposed to be an incentive to give councils extra money, but Mr Hunt said it is now being used to fill funding gaps.

The settlement grant for Tendring Council is down by £1.5million, while Braintree Council is down £1million.

Essex County Council will lose £49million – this is about a 15 per cent cut and follows cuts of hundreds of millions of pounds in recent years.

John Spence, councillor responsible for finance, said: “We understand the Government has to tackle the deficit, but that does not detract from our responsibility both to balance the books and to provide the best possible service for the people of Essex.

“Every successive round of cuts makes the challenge harder. We have already secured so many efficiencies.

“We will continue to work creatively with our dedicated and innovative officers to find new solutions but make no mistake – it will be tough.”

Leader David Finch added: “This is going to get tougher, but we are working closely with our partners across the county in order to deal with these funding reductions.

“Resilient communities are always important but especially at a time when councils simply cannot afford to do everything they used to do.”

Nationally about £2.6billion is being cut in council funding for 2015/16.