Another £11.5 billion in spending cuts are set to be announced by the Government this week, with local authorities likely to face further spending cuts of around 10 per cent of budget.

According to the Local Government Association (LGA) that could equate to around £30 million per local authority, a staggering sum given the cuts that have already been imposed on local government since the financial crisis started in 2008.

Many local authorities have won considerable kudos for their bold approach to delivering ‘more for less' and managing to safeguard local services through cost savings and commissioning; gaining economies of scale by bundling services and working with specialist partners to drive efficiencies in the delivery of services.

Ed Balls' confirmation that Labour would retain current Government spending targets if elected in 2014, means the debate around local authority service provision has now moved into a new phase: there will be no U-turn.

When speaking with local authorities across the country on this subject, they all say the same thing: they can't cut more money from budgets without looking to remove entire service lines.

We recently hosted a roundtable debate ‘Communities in Crisis' which brought together local authority experts, think tanks and private and third sector specialists to examine whether the Spending Review marks the beginning of the end for local authority services as we know them.

One of the most startling conclusions was that discussing how to re-commission local services and reduce costs is yesterday's argument; today the debate is on how to decommission services; the cuts are no longer just financial.

The Government recently responded to reports that DCLG budgets would be cut by 10 per cent by saying that local authorities did have other sources of income that could help maintain services. While it is true that council tax and business rate income is available as a source of additional finance, the reality is that both are under extreme pressure as a result of the recession.  The rumoured £3 billion for health and transport will be once only payments.

Localism has also been put forward as a solution – with local authorities signing over community services and facilities to be run by groups of volunteers – but this is also an unsatisfactory answer. Some communities actively want to take on the running and provision of services, and many do an excellent job, but many do not want to do so. The result is that we risk creating a two-tier system where those communities that have the ability, time and motivation to run services themselves will retain them, while those that do not, lose them.

Yet local authorities are under huge pressure to find new ways to safeguard service. Axing entire service lines is not only politically toxic but it also horrifies many councils.So if safeguarding as many services as possible has to be a priority, what can local authorities do to achieve this?

I suggest there are two broad options: