WE knew it was coming, but only when you see the detail does the full impact of the latest round of local authority funding cuts really hit you.

York will be subject to a reduction of 1.8 per cent this year. In short that means yet another year of hard decisions. The choice of which services will stay and which will have to be scaled back, stopped or delivered in a new way, even by communities, social enterprises or charities.

The council will need to assess spending priorities very carefully and ensure robust checks and proper business practises are applied before any projects are voted through. Especially so in the light of recent costly mistakes, including the Lendal Bridge fiasco and the Tour De France Grand Departy which was anything but.

The settlement isn’t a shock, after all the authority had already begun to plan for cuts on this scale. Nevertheless it does herald more tough times ahead.

What is shocking is the scale of the cuts when reviewed over the years and while it is good to see commitment to the most vulnerable, decisions will have to be very carefully weighed to minimise the impact.

That said, we have some sympathy with calls for more local control over what money there is, because surely those nearest the ground know best how to allocate these limited resources.