FUNDING well maintained roads, and household waste recycling services to be considered by Hampshire County Council as government cash cuts continue.

In the build up to this review East Hampshire residents were asked to give their views on recycling tips, including the one in Bedford Road in Petersfield.

County council executive member for economy, transport councillor Seán Woodward said: "Residents told us that the household waste recycling service and road maintenance are in the ‘top three’ most-used County Council services, and we’ve been looking carefully at how we can continue to deliver these services in a financially sustainable way.

“For us to make the anticipated savings, residents have also told us that they would support street light dimming; a reduced number of local traffic management schemes (where these are not led by safety concerns); a focus on reducing amounts of household waste produced; and increasing recycling.

“Taking all this into consideration, we will be looking at a number of ways some of these services will be delivered differently in the future. There are clearly difficult choices to be made, and we will need to focus resources more than ever on your priority services. We will do our best to protect the core Household Waste Recycling Centre service across the county. We will protect highways maintenance by prioritising work on the carriageways and footways, but some environmental and amenity maintenance work on highways is probably no longer affordable.”

In the County Council’s Shaping Hampshire - Spending Review Consultation, undertaken earlier this year, residents’ and stakeholders’ views were sought on how the County Council should manage an anticipated shortfall in funding. Responses to this consultation have been considered in the development of initial proposals for savings.

These proposed savings are part of the County Council’s anticipated budget reduction of around £98million to meet reduced funding for Council services from central Government. If Cllr Woodward approves these proposals they will then be recommended to the County Council’s Cabinet for further consideration, alongside those from other Executive Members, at their meeting on Monday, September 21. Cabinet will agree their recommendations on the County Council’s medium term financial strategy to be presented to full Council for discussion and ratification at its meeting on October 22.