WIDESPREAD cuts to Ealing Council services are inevitable after a huge drop in government funding.

Ealing’s cabinet of senior councillors will consider plans to cut £56m from their budget next Tuesday.

They will contribute to the £96m of budget reductions the council needs to make by April 2019.

And it’s on top of £87m of savings made over the past four years. If the plans are agreed, it will mean the end of some services and change beyond recognition for others.

Among the items to be considered by are changes to refuse and recycling from April 2016.

Food waste would be collected weekly, but the remaining recycling and refuse would be collected on alternate weeks. Two wheelie bins would be provided free to households – one for the remaining recycling and one for refuse.

Homes unable to store wheelie bins would use black sacks for refuse and clear sacks for recycling.

If it moves to the new system, the council expects recycling rates to rise and to save money from its street cleaning budget because using wheelie bins will reduce spillage on collection days.

The borough is also proposing to consult day centre users about closing some buildings, with users going to alternative services or grouping together to hire community venues.

Ealing is proposing to reduce or remove its subsidy from some of its chargeable services, like community centres, skip permits, garden waste collections, Ealing Summer Festivals, day-care provision, parking permits and some leisure services. Prices would increase or be introduced and community groups could be invited to run some services.

Ealing could reduce the number of school crossing patrols it funds and would allocate cash based on independent traffic research. It hopes that schools or local businesses may fund the patrols in lower-risk areas.

Other services will need to change to ensure they operate within the money available.

This is likely to include providing an appointments system, rather than drop-in service, at the council’s customer service centre, extending the time to repair or replace items like faulty street lights, cracked pavements and potholes, as well as reducing gritting and graffiti removal.

However, Ealing has prioritised spending a further £3.5m on its road resurfacing programme in 2018/19 on top of the £7m planned over the next two years.

The proposals would mean hundreds of job losses at the council. It is hoped compulsory redundancies can be minimised through re-deployment and voluntary redundancy.

Cllr Julian Bell, leader of the council, said: “Any public body that has such a large slice of its government grant taken away has no option but to change.

“Without the money needed to make ends meet, we have been left with no choice but to think the unthinkable and to make these heart-breaking decisions.

“What is worse, we know there is more to come.”

Councillors have promised they will freeze council tax again next year as they do not want to place an additional financial burden on people.

The council is also looking to save millions by exploring how Ealing Town Hall and Perceval House could be better used and run more cheaply.

Ealing will now request proposals from developers to see how the sites could accommodate down-sized offices, civic space, improved community rooms, Ealing Central Library, a small hotel and homes.

Councillor Yvonne Johnson, cabinet member for finance, said: “We have tried to be as fair as possible and limit the impact on our residents.

“We are being as open as possible because we want people to understand the scale and impact that these cuts will have on council services.”

The government will confirm how much funding Ealing Council will receive for the year ahead in December as part of the local government settlement.

Plans being considered by the council’s cabinet include:

• Consulting users of Elm Lodge and Sycamore Lodge about relocating day services to the Michael Flanders Centre

• Reviewing day centre transport

• Closure of the Solace mental health drop-in centre

• Reorganising foster care

• Increasing the charge of bulky item collections from £20 for eight items to £40

• Introducing a new charge for the disposal of DIY waste, which will need to be taken to Greenford Reuse and Recycling Centre and charged by weight

• Charging for skip permits at £50 a fortnight in non-controlled parking areas and £100 a fortnight in controlled zones.

• Reorganising staffing in adult services

• Restructure of the play service including closing Lammas Park play centre

• Reducing school crossing patrols • Reducing funding for additional police officers and PCSOs.

• Increased fees from advertising hoardings

• Reducing road gritting

• Reducing grounds maintenance

• Introducing paperless parking vouchers and increasing charges for households with multiple cars

• Reducing the running cost of Perceval House

• More than 400 council staff at risk of redundancy.