Shropshire Council’s leader says the authority is facing “seriously dark times”, as it approved a 5% council tax rise and a £62m package of budget cuts.

Councillor Lezley Picton told a heated meeting of Shropshire Council that the authority had taken “really tough decisions” to balance its budget in the face of a bleak financial landscape for local government.

But opposition group leaders said the administration had wasted its capital money on ‘shiny projects’ and claimed the council’s financial strategy had failed.

“The revenue budget before you today is tough. It’s really tough. Any proposals that result in job losses and changes or ceasation of services is heartbreaking,” said Councillor Picton.

“However this budget will protect services, it will save the council from what is happening in other authorities where services are being cut completely.

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“As a sector we’ve had tough times before where savings have had to be made and services altered radically. However right now in Shropshire and in councils across the country we are entering seriously dark times.

“Increased demand couple with rising costs, sustained high inflation and no sign of fairer funding means we’re faced with making really tough decisions to set a balanced budget.

“We’re not alone, most of not all top-tier and even district councils are struggling to meet these commitments. The simple truth is, local government is struggling like never before.”

Councillor Picton said Shropshire Council the central government settlement for the coming year was “not enough”, and called for further support from Westminster in the face of a rapidly worsening financial outlook for local authorities.

“I don’t care what colour of government gets in next time because I don’t think that colour of government would make a difference,” she added.

“For years local government has been underappreciated and under funded and we shouldn’t stand for that. We can’t carry on living hand to mouth, we really cannot.

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“We all need to make the point to our elected and prospective elected members that we will not and cannot cope with this any longer.”

The council’s cost cutting measures include shrinking the organisation by 300 staff, charging for its green waste collections and cutting the number of household recycling centres in the county from five to three.

The council says it will begin discussions with local communities on how non-statutory services such as libraries and leisure centres could continue outside the council’s control.

Councillors voted through the measures with a narrow majority, after Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green councillors opposed the budget.

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Roger Evans said the Conservative administration’s plan had not worked, and said he had a sense of “deja vu” over the council’s financial position.

“The important thing about any plan is that it works. Repeating that you have one and others do not is far from convincing, especially in the face of the budget facing us today,” he said.

“Was the plan to overspend and use virtually all our reserves which this year on a £730m budget are now predicted to be just over £1.6m?

“Was the plan to cut our workforce by over 300 staff whilst paying PriceWaterhouseCoopers millions of pounds?

“Valued services in Shropshire stand never to be the same again, and residents are not likely to forgive many of these actions.”

Labour councillor Julia Buckley said the authority was “obsessed with outsourcing”, and claimed the authority had lost control of its costs as it asked residents to “pay more for less”.

“We heard the leader talk about fantasy and reality – well, welcome to the Conservative reality,” she said.

“They’ve lost control of their costs, they’ve lost control of quality and we are now being asked to pay the price.”

Councillor Buckley tabled an amendment to suspend 300 proposed job losses at the council while an option to explore other measures with trade union, which was voted down.

The council says it will now put plans in place to start applying the changes approved in the budget, and is set to commence a number of public consultations on “significant service changes” set to take place as a result of the budget.