It is unusual for local authorities to be asked to make cuts in their budgets once those budgets have already been set. That is what national government is now asking of all councils.

That said, in these straitened times and with the likelihood of a change in control at Westminster, most councils will have seen something of this kind coming.

It does not make it any easier. It is simple to make efficiency savings from an armchair, less so when you are in control of the budgets that supply services that people rely on.

Oxfordshire County Council alone has been told to find savings of almost £11m in a very short space of time.

It may only be a small proportion of the council’s budget, but it is a big figure to be found in such a short space of time.

The £11m will pale into insignificance when compared with the cuts we are likely to face in future years. With the Government committed to a council tax freeze and eyeing local authorty budgets for savings, we in Oxfordshire are likely to face a double whammy.

At the same time as public services face the squeeze, there will be delays to many of the big capital projects, such as transport schemes, which bring huge benefit to the private sector in terms of both work and the stimulus they provide to economic activity.