CASH-starved Dudley Council has rubber stamped a raft of brutal cuts to services in a bid to save £22 million over the next year.

Councillors gave their backing to the proposed budget for 2015/16 at Monday’s full council meeting.

Councillor Stuart Turner, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, warned the financial challenge faced by the local authority was “enormous”.

He said: “We have taken every opportunity to argue for a fair deal for Dudley. Despite this the Government has cut £19 million from our revenue support grant.

“We have identified further savings and improved our position to be able to cover the largest part of 2016/17.”

But he added that further cuts of £33 million would have to be made by 2017/18.

Proposed savings for 2015/16 include job cuts, restructuring across departments and reductions in services and care packages for people with mental health, physical disabilities and the elderly.

Cuts will also hit day centres, council services for those needing care after hospital treatment and children’s centres.

There will also be less cash for road resurfacing and reconstruction, maintenance of street lighting, signs and bollards, gully drain emptying, parks, open spaces and grass verges.

Sandwell Council is looking to make £31 million of savings, but cabinet member for finance Cllr Steve Eling said budget planning over successive years had put the council in a “robust position to weather the storm”.

Overall, the council’s budget has been cut by an accumulated £280 million since 2010, with £122 million less government funding for 2015/16 compared to five years ago on a like for like basis.

But Cllr Eling said: “We are not closing facilities or withdrawing services under this budget. Services are, however, running on fewer staff. We are using new ICT to make staff more efficient, co-locating services to bring them together in the same building, generating more income and reducing agency staff.”

Despite the financial pressures, neither council is increasing council tax for the fifth year running, although householders will see small increases as the region’s police and fire services are both putting up their charges collected through the tax by 1.99 per cent.

Dudley is also freezing council house rents, but the majority of Sandwell tenants face a one per cent increase – amounting to an average weekly rent rise of £1.03 from April.

Almost 2,500 tenants who have historically paid less than others will face a bigger rise this year and for the next two years, averaging at 3.32 per cent, to balance out current unfairness in the system.