THE leader of Worcester City Council says his authority is facing an “unprecedented” funding crisis – and has made a plea for public understanding.

Councillor Adrian Gregson is tackling one of the toughest challenges of his political career, as about £3.5 million needs to be cut from spending by 2019.

The Labour politician has warned residents that “a wave” of spending reductions will inevitably hit services.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting, he said: “The situation which we are in, which affects a range of other councils too, is quite unprecedented.

“We were already facing a range of cuts that we knew about, and now we’re facing a wave of new cuts which will really cause us some difficulties. We need to get a strategy in place and deal with it in the most grown-up way possible.”

His comments have been echoed by other members of the council’s leadership, who say they fear for the future of local government.

Coun Roger Berry, cabinet member for health and well-being, said: “All the signs suggest local government will cease to exist as we know it.

“As a councillor with my years of experience, I have never seen anything so intolerable.

“In one sense, it’s the death knell of local government as we know it today.”

As your Worcester News first revealed last month, a financial blueprint, known as the Medium Term Financial Strategy, is being redrawn.

The document will spell out how the council will go about making the savings needed to balance the books.

At the moment the forecasts suggest £3.5 million of spending cuts will need to be made by the 2018/19 financial year, mainly due to the public sector spending squeeze.

Ideas discussed so far include handing over the running of sports pitches and allotments to volunteers, making better use of convicted criminals to do unpaid work, and asking the WI to do floral displays.

It is also expected to include commissioning more services – a buzzword for handing them to new providers like voluntary groups, the third sector, private sector, not-for-profit bodies or other organisations.

Worcester MP Robin Walker has been lobbying the Government for better funding, arguing in parliament that people wrongly believe the entire county is more prosperous than it actually is.