COUNCIL chiefs in Worcestershire admit they are running out of ideas for saving more money - saying they are "struggling" to protect vital services.

The Conservative leadership at County Hall has made an open appeal to other councillors to come up with fresh suggestions for cutting back spending.

But they have also insisted key areas like highways will be protected from the axe, insisting they are not willing to backtrack on the most crucial service areas.

As your Worcester News first revealed last week, despite plugging an £11 million gap which had suddenly opened up in the finances for 2016/17, another £2 million still needs to be cut.

And that is on top of existing proposals to save £22.6 million for the forthcoming financial year.

During a meeting of the economy and environment overview and scrutiny panel, backbench councillors were told fresh savings are becoming extremely hard to find.

Councillor John Smith, the cabinet member for highways, told them: "You can be absolutely assured, we've gone through budget this line-by-line and are struggling to find any more.

"I would welcome any suggestions anyone has to help us."

Councillor Anthony Blagg, the new deputy leader and cabinet member for the environment, said: "It gets more difficult every year but we've still got to do it - so any ideas people have would be welcome."

Around £2.2 million of saving proposals for next year have already been identified from the department covering infrastructure, the environment and the economy.

That includes £475,000 off library spending, £500,000 by recruiting more volunteers, £50,000 by charging for more archive and archaeology services and £360,000 by taking Trading Standards back in-house from Worcestershire Regulatory Services.

But during the meeting John Hobbs, the corporate director overseeing the services, said the amount of "wriggle room" was small.

"We've taken chunks out of this budget but the more you go at this, the more difficult it becomes," he said.

"It becomes more of a diminishing opportunity - and one of our key issues is about resilience.

"One day we could be in a steady state with the highways but the next, we could be up to our knees in water or dealing with severe winter weather."

He told councillors he would not want to "degrade the service", especially the roads network which is crucial.

The department's overall spending is around £66 million, with councillors agreeing that it needs to be protected.

Councillor Alan Amos: "I'd suggest other budgets are looked at, and not this one."

Fellow committee member Councillor Paul Tuthill said: "Recently I had to drive to both Herefordshire and Oxfordshire, and my car suspension is much happier in Worcestershire.

"The services this department covers is what the vast majority of the public are interested in."

The department is about to launch a big two-year project to invest in the roads called 'Driving Home'.