Staggering cuts which will see services ranging from library books to public health slashed have been approved by Cumbria County Council.

Members agreed the staggering £34.5m cuts to the authority's budget for 2018/2019 at a full council meeting in Kendal today.

They also signed off a 3.99 per cent increase to its part of the council tax. This is made up of a 1.99 per cent increase in the basic precept, plus an additional 2 per cent precept, to be spent on adult social care.

Councillors approved proposals to strip funding from services including public health, library services and foster care places for older teenagers.

In Cumbria since 2011, the council has made savings of £214m.

It still needs to find an additional £70m by 2022. This amounts to about £285m over an 11-year period.

There was just one amendment to the proposals, put forward by Conservative councillor Hilary Carrick, who represents Penrith North.

Her party suggested the council increased the annual budget to £373.502m, up by £2.697m on the proposed budget.

Of this, £1.567m would be ring-fenced funding for adult social care, while £1.13m, accessed through the Government's recently announced Rural Services Delivery Grant, would be invested in community transport solutions over the next four years.

In 2018/2019, £305,000 would be spent on community transport.

But this was thrown out following a recorded vote, with 41 against the proposal, 30 in favour and one abstention.

Council leader Stewart Young, LAB, said: "Even if that was to be agreed [£305,000] would go absolutely nowhere to resolving the transport problems faced by this county."

But his Tory rivals said the funding would help both rural and urban communities, addressing social isolation and helping to drive the economy.

Councillors then voted 41 to 31 in favour of the cabinet's proposals and a budget of £370.805m for the next 12 months.

This means the council tax for band D properties will cost £1,332 a year, which is an additional 98p per week.

Deputy leader Ian Stewart, said: "This administration is investing in the future of our young people; our older people; and those within our communities who are most disadvantaged."

In terms of capital funding, Mr Stewart explained that the authority would be spending:

*£52m on highways maintenance - which is more than the £36m spent in 2009/10, at the start of the overall reduction in central government funding.

*£3.8m on winter maintenance, equal to what was budgeted for nine years ago.

*£28m on Looked After Children - compared to the £14m in 2009/10.

*£88m on residential care, which is slightly less than the amount spent in 2009/10.

*Support at home - almost £74m, compared with the £78m spent in 2009/10.

*Fire and Rescue Service - £15.2m, just under £1m less than what was spent in 2009/10.

Mr Stewart said: "It’s very clear that even though we’ve had significant reductions in the amount of money we’ve had available to spend, we have tried - and we will continue to try - to maintain the level of spend on services that ate valued by the people of Cumbria."

But James Airey, leader of the Conservative group, said the budget consisted of proposals based around a series of "technical savings" or "smoke and mirrors" which do nothing to drive the council forward.

He said greater focus was needed on rebalancing the budget to support rural communities, consider how 16 to 18-year-olds access transport to continue their education, and ensure Cumbria Care operates efficiently, while influencing partners in the public and private sectors.

Mr Airey added: "While we seem to be following the efficiency principle, we appear to be sadly lacking in the enterprise section."

This section of the report, he said, lacked substance.