SOUTHEND Council has revealed that residents in Southend want to see services including adult care and rubbish collections protected from cuts.

Next year the council will get £64million funding, down nine per cent, and £58.75million the following year, a further six per cent reduction, which mean cuts will be necessary in many areas.

In order to establish which services mean most to people, the council carried out a consultation which has shown residents would prefer to see care budgets and recycling and waste collections protected as much as possible.

At the other end of the scale, the responses indicated people would prefer to see reductions in areas including planning, school transport and tourism.

Council chief executive Rob Tinlin said: “These are unprecedented times for local government finances and like everyone else we will have to manage with the money we have.

“We have no choice but to reduce our spending but we are taking care to develop plans which we believe will be in the long-term interests of everyone who lives or works in the borough.”