A £760,000 recycling grant to Pendle is among more than 30 services set to be hit by cuts as Lancashire County Council bosses reveal plans to shave £55 million from its budget.

County councillor Geoff Driver, the leader of Lancashire County Council, said the authority's financial situation was 'extremely challenging' and the latest round of cuts had been found by a 'detailed line-by-line review of all service budgets'.

The proposals include slashing both the children's social care and the learning disability services by £2.7 million each, while the fostering and residential services budget was also set to be cut by £800,000.

The latest cuts comes as County Hall bosses revealed a £10 million subsidy paid to district councils to help with recycling collections was also being scrapped.

Scrapping the recycling subsidies will mean extra financial pressure on borough councils across East Lancashire.

To maintain a similar recycling collection service to the one in operation Pendle would need £760,000.

Councillors said residents were bracing themselves for a 'double hit' with many fearing the blow to the recycling budget could lead to less collections and therefore more flytipping and rats.

"It is a shocking and impossible situation," said County Cllr David Whipp, who represents Pendle Rural. "Residents are already suffering under the Conservative government that is turning the screw to squeeze Pendle’s budget year after year, forcing the council to cut and cut its spending.

"And now we have the new Conservative county council stripping away its funding towards the refuse and recycling services that by law it is demanding from Pendle."

County Cllr Albert Atkinson, deputy leader of the county council, said the grants were given to councils to encourage more material to be recycled.

He said: "We agreed to help them by sharing the cost of bringing in the new collection systems.

"Many things have changed over the last 14 years, not least of which that district councils now have a statutory duty to provide recycling collections.

"On this basis, and with significant pressure on the county council's finances, we simply cannot continue to subsidise services that other councils are already duty-bound to provide."

The latest round of cuts were outlined as Lancashire County Council tries to find savings of £167 million by 2021/22.

A council spokesman said the potential savings were not expected to have a negative impact on frontline services, as they would mainly come from efficiencies, recurrent underspends, income generation and service charges.

He added social worker numbers would not be reduced but the savings would make their jobs more efficient to concentrate on their more 'hands on' work and less administrative tasks.

Other cuts include £500,000 from both the sexual health service and highways departments; £858,000 from the asset management budget; £755,000 from the older person's in-house residential services; £30,000 from outdoor education; £150,000 from the music service; £175,000 from the coroners service and £780,000 from the learning excellence programme.

However, drivers will have some good news as it is planned to spend £3 million improving the county's roads.

The county council's cabinet will meet this week to consider the report.