''LANCASHIRE County Council will not know until December the extent of the savings programme it has to deliver over the next four years - with the challenge expected to be much greater than had been forecast prior to the Comprehensive Spending Review.'' County Councillor Atkinson warned  Ribble Valley Conservatives this week .

''There will be Job losses of 6240 over the next 4 years , in non education departments , mainly in back up administration preserving the frontline services. Will be achieved by re-organisation , not replacing leavers and retirers , we hope to avoid redundancies.

''Council allocations will be announced on 2 December, with last week's Government review indicating likely savings requirements of around 26%.

''For the county council, which employs 42,000 people, this would mean savings over the next three years of around £180m - although the actual figure could be lower or higher when it is announced in December. The council had been anticipating a savings requirement of around £113m over the same period.

Leader of the county council, Geoff Driver, has explained : "We can't plan accurately on the basis of the headline figures as the funding of local councils is complex and we expect some variation on the 26% when the detail is complete.

"It is going to be very tough whatever the outcome and we will not be able to address this scale of cuts without impacting on services and jobs. However, our priority will be to protect those services that are vital to the most vulnerable members of our communities.

"We will do everything we can to ensure we bring local services to people more efficiently, but every part of the organisation will need to be looked at to achieve the required level of savings.

"We are not happy about the reductions in Government grant but we recognise the serious financial situation and the need to eliminate the structural deficit in the nation's finances."

Cllr Driver is encouraging people to contribute their own ideas about where the county council should focus its spending in future and where savings can be made, or which services taxpayers would wish to see scaled back.

He explains: "We're elected to make decisions and will do that even when they are tough, but it's only right that people come to us and say if they have a good suggestion about improving efficiency and reducing our spending overall.

"We'll be inviting Lancashire residents to do this on an ongoing basis and invite people to email us or write with their views."

Members of the public are encouraged to send their views to value@lancashire.gov.uk or write to the Leader of the Council at County Hall, PO Box 78, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 8XJ.

The county council will not be in a position to confirm its spending plans for 2011-12 and beyond until funding allocations are known in detail, but anticipates radical change will be required.