COUNCIL bosses say they face a massive challenge to plug a financial black hole of almost £5million.

Finance boss Tom Howard admits the council is struggling to balance the books.

He blames government funding cuts and cost pressures from the increased minimum wage.

Mr Howard said increases in the minimum wage and pensions were good for workers, but had an impact on the cost of council services.

Working parties set up in a bid to bridge the huge funding gap have only managed to identify savings of £796,000 over the next two financial years.

Mr Howard said: "The working party that I was invited to clearly demonstrated to me the magnitude of the challenge we are facing.

“Little can be more depressing than to work through the scenarios only to find that a service reduction far greater than you would ever wish to contemplate would only result in a modest and wholly insufficient saving."

He added: “Savings options are becoming increasingly difficult to identify whilst trying to protect service provision, and we can all agree that these are decisions that we would rather not have to take.

“Unfortunately, the need to find around £5million in savings over the next three years is not an option.

“The savings identified so far are significantly below the level required and it appears likely that we will need to call some money down from reserves to balance the budget but this is not a long term solution.”

Mr Howard said the council was already "lean and efficient" after slashing what it spends on services by £12million a year following government funding cuts.

The council is looking to increase efficiency and boost income, but can not rule out axing services.

Mr Howard said: “We all have an opportunity to have a voice in this process and to really challenge what services Tendring Council will provide in future.

“This will of course be balanced against what our residents, businesses and visitors expect from us.”