Southend Council will be forced to slash up to £1.3m from its social services bill next year, it was confirmed today.

The cash-strapped department has been told to slice £1m from its budget - and make efficiency savings of £300,000.

Director of social services Jane Held said a series of "budget reduction" measures will be drawn up.

The move came just months after councillors agreed to the closure of three Southend old people's homes.

The move was designed to offset a £1.36m deficit in the current year's budget.

She said officers had been working largely in the dark since services transferred from county to borough control.

Ms Held added: "We now have the information and are better informed about next year. We can look at the total picture with that."

Hopes of major investment in Southend's roads were dashed, too, as officers were told to cut the highways maintenance budget by £650,000.

They are now in the process of appealing after Government ministers slashed their recommended spending limit for roads by 12 per cent.

Director of technical services David Watts said the savings could come from a variety of areas.

He added: "We haven't finalised which ones are most sensible, in any case that will be a decision for councillors."

The borough has been boosted, however, with a £2m combination of grants and borrowing approval to ease the crisis on the roads.

Officers had to bid for this cash and it came as a separate Government handout from a special fund.

It will be used to make accident blackspots safer, maintaining roads and assessing and strengthening bridges.

Last year, the council's Lib Dem and Labour administration took a total of £1.3m out of reserves to prop up its budget. It plans to do the same next year.

Borough treasurer David Andrews has told each chief officer that there must be no extras in the 1999/2000 budget.

Each committee must also write individual spending programmes to achieve one per cent efficiency savings next year.

An overall increase in charges of three per cent is on the cards, apart from local land charges where the hike could be significantly higher.

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