THE need for cuts in public spending has been long signalled, but it is only now we can begin to see the flesh to be sliced off the bones.

Oxfordshire County Council is taking a pre-emptive strike in reviewing what capital projects it could afford to put on ice or cancel from a list of more than £500m planned projects.

Now while there is no exact figure or even reliable ‘guesstimate’ for it to work on, potential cuts of between 20 and 50 per cent are bouncing around inside the Whitehall bubble. That would equate, on the roughest of guesses, to affecting £100m to £250m of these Oxfordshire schemes.

Most of these are not schemes on an aspirational wishlist. They are projects long in the planning that are needed to improve many important parts of the county’s infrastructure.

Looking at the list of schemes councillors will have to review, there are, of course, some that are far more expendable than others.

But some major projects that many, many people have been counting on will be affected. And, while cuts for the coming five years have already been planned for services, new ones cannot be ruled out, given the bleakness of financial forecasts.

Keith Mitchell and his colleagues have to make some unpleasant decisions, and it is a thankless task.