PROTESTERS voiced their opposition to Dorset County Council cuts again as councillors agreed to explore the first wave of savings identified.

The council is looking at making cuts of nearly £50million as a result of a decrease in public sector funding over the next three years and admits it may have to find as much as £27million of that in the coming year.

At a full meeting of the council members agreed to carry out further exploration into the £22.4million of total savings al-ready identified in the council’s Meeting Future Challenges project.

As councillors arrived for the meeting they were met by protesters from the unions at the steps of County Hall.

Representatives from Unison, Unite, the GMB and the Dorchester, Weymouth and Portland and District Trades Council also addressed members in the council chamber as they discussed a 2,500-signature petition they had submitted.

The petition called on the authority to hold a full and open debate to stop the cuts to jobs and services.

It also urged the council and local MPs to put pressure on the Government to reconsider the level of cuts it intends to impose.

Pamela Jeffries, secretary of the Dorchester branch of Unison, said as well as impacting on council staff, the cuts would also effect the most vulnerable people in society as a result of cuts to local services.

She said: “Public sector staff and the Dorset population have done nothing to cause this sad state of affairs but we are expected to bear the brunt of it.”

Cabinet member for corporate resources Spencer Flower urged fellow councillors to recognise the full scale of the financial problems facing the council and the scale of the savings that need to be found.

He said: “It isn’t going to go away unless we manage it.

“At the end of the day we have to have a balanced budget and that could mean savings of as much as £27million next year, it’s going to be a hell of a tall order.”

Council leader Angus Campbell said the council had made it clear to the Government that it would prefer to spread the cuts out over the coming years, rather than having to find the bulk of savings in the short term.

However, he also stressed the need for the council to move quickly to put measures in place to meet the substantial savings targets that would be required.

Coun Campbell said: “Clearly it is going to be very difficult in the first year.

“I get the feeling in some areas there is a lack of understanding of the immediacy of this problem and the need to move as fast as we can, we cannot slow this process down.”

Members voted to look at the issues raised in the petition through the council’s staffing committee and its staff consultative committee.