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Today's focus: How one council plans to reduce its spending by £40m

This is the first of our regular Cutswatch blogs, which will gather up information on public sector cuts from around the country. Input is already starting to come from readers, and we are following up on your accounts of cuts in your area. We're drawing on twitter and other internet sites, as well as more traditional sources, to paint a comprehensive picture of the extent of the cutbacks, and providing links for those who need more detail.

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How one council plans to cut £40m

Blackburn with Darwen council has the reputation of being one of England's best performing local authorities. But as local residents are about to find out, competence and efficiency doesn't shield you from hefty cuts.

On Thursday, the council's ruling executive board (a coalition of Conservative and Liberal Democrats, with a sprinkling of independents) will consider the first batch of 42 reports covering all aspects of the council's services as part of a "major rethink" of what it can afford to provide.

The trimming however has already begun, with £4m of cuts effectively imposed by the chancellor George Osborne in JuneWhen he decided to make adjustments during the year the district through grants (ABGs). That funds received directly from the departments of Whitehall Council for funding of specific services.

You can see how it affects Blackburn with Darwen here: A full range of services - from young people (who lose more than ?? 700K) for road maintenance and the prevention of violent extremism projects - had 25% to 100% of their funding cut ABG at night. The new reduction of the grant is expected in the next few months.

The council's even more dramatic next step is to attempt to carve £40m from its annual budget over the next four years in anticipation of a 25% fall in income.

The council leader, Michael Lee, explains:

The first wave of service reviews has looked at community and leisure services. They have proposed the following:

• The closure of council-owned buildings. These include a leisure centre and 16 community centres, which will close unless local community groups can take them over.
• Introducing charging for bulky waste and replacing lost household waste bins, closing council-run "pay points" and telling residents to pay council tax at newsagents.
• formal review of the district 's library services.

On top of that the council declared:

• The "decommissioning" of up to 23 children's services to save nearly £900,000, including parenting support projects and anti-bullying programmes, many of which are provided by charities and community groups (see appendix three of this report).
• A merger of the management structures of the council and the local NHS primary care trust (which itself faces 36% cuts, including the loss of a third of its workforce over the next three years). This proposal, thought to be the first of its kind in the country, will save around £2m. The council has also set in train plans to outsource its entire adult social care service to a social enterprise.

Public protests are expected at the board meeting on Thursday ', while the local MP and former Labour Minister Jack Straw called the reduction of "is absurd." A live web chat with Blackburn with Darwen chief executive Graham Burgess hosted yesterday by the Lancashire Telegraph gives a flavour of emerging public disquiet. More will come when the scale of job losses â€" as yet no estimates â€" becomes apparent.

But obviously, it will be only the beginning. Annex 4 of the Council, the document shows the breadth of the review of the planned services from child protection and housing to crematoria and staff parking. As Lee says:

"We are determined to be in the best shape possible to make more of less. To do this we need to make significant changes and implement them as quickly as possible or we are just storing up even more pain for later."

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