THE SPENDING axe is hovering over Lancashire County Council as bosses look to find £22.9million in budget cuts.

County Hall has yet to reveal its plans for the savings – which have been demanded by the new government in the current financial year.

Every department has been told to look for savings, and a decision will be made at a cabinet meeting this month.

Tory resources chief Michael Green was tight-lipped on areas that could be cut, but admitted it was “possible” services could be affected.

The scale of cuts by Lancashire County Council will partly depend on whether leaders opt to repeat their council tax freeze from April 2011.

Coun Green said: “We have identified something like £22.9million that will need to be found.

"Our prime objective is to protect front-line services as far as possible.”

It comes as other town halls in East Lancashire look for savings.

Bosses in Blackburn with Darwen revealed plans to close a leisure centre and pull funding from community centres to cope with the new age of austerity.

Burnley Borough Council has already identified more than £3million in savings in the current year after a series of local grants from central Government were stopped.

Neighbourhood policing, street cleaning and a job creation scheme are all facing funding cutbacks.

But chief executive Steve Rumbelow said more would have to be found following the Autumn Comprehensive Spending Review.

He said while Burnley would be looking for savings on a similar scale to Blackburn with Darwen, it had a far smaller budget so the cuts would be less drastic.

He said: “We are trying to get some savings in the bag, that aren’t of the more intrusive type.

"But that doesn’t mean those won’t be needed after the spending review.”