RUBBISH tips will close, 1,000 council jobs will go and street lights will be switched off.

Those were among the measures outlined by Oxfordshire County Council yesterday as it seeks to cut £155m from its budget over the next four years.

Funding for theatres, day care transport and road maintenance will also be axed.

Two weeks ago, the county announced funding would be cut for 20 libraries and 20 youth centres.

But cash for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue and children’s social care has been largely protected in the budget proposals.

The Conservative-controlled County Hall is hopeful much of the budget savings can be made through efficiencies, restructuring and renegotiating contracts.

But leader Keith Mitchell said: “It’s not about cutting out fat, its thinning out people doing jobs.”

He admitted that relying on some changes, particularly personal budgets in adult social care, was a risk as it was unchartered territory.

“We have no choice but to take these risks,” he added.

Half of Oxfordshire’s street lights will be turned off at 12.30am to save £350,000, roads maintenance budgets will be cut by about £5m, but winter gritting will not be reduced.

A £1m road maintenance fund will be set up and communities asked how the money should be spent.

Mr Mitchell said: “Everyone is in this together. Everyone will feel the pain.”

The budget proposals will close five waste recycling sites at Ardley, Dean, Alkerton, Stanford and Redbridge (which will remain open for trade waste) to save £750,000. A new facility will open in Kidlington and a replacement site sought in Banbury.

Green Party councillor Larry Sanders said: “This is a desperate kind of budget.”

The council will cut £37m from its adult social care budget, with £20m reinvested to deal with the county’s ageing population.

Personal budgets will be given to those in need, which will see the number of council care staff reduced. The authority hopes to cut the numbers admitted to care homes by providing more services at home.

Council-funded transport for day services will be axed to save £1.3m.

Labour group leader Richard Stevens said: “The announcements made today will worry people in Oxfordshire who use day services, need care in a care home or have the benefit of the council’s internal care assistants.

“To make things worse, today’s announcement has been made without any detail on where the cuts will fall.”

Funding to the Oxford Playhouse theatre, the Oxford Film and Video Makers, Chipping Norton Theatre and the Oxford Literary Festival will be cut completely.

Polly Cole, deputy director of Oxford Playhouse, said the council funding, worth around £20,000, helped unlock further grants and paid for much of the theatre’s community and outreach work.

She added: “To pull it away will have a huge impact on what we are able to do.”

The budget is set to be agreed in February.