EAST Lothian Council's leader has warned that public services will collapse without more national funding as the local authority faces its "most significant" funding gap in modern times.

The council is facing a gap of nearly £18 million in its budget in the coming year, with warnings that nearly £60 million in cuts will be needed over the next five years.

A meeting of the administration cabinet today heard that choices would need to be made which would involve cutting services and increasing charges.

The council has already announced plans to reduce its household waste collections from fortnightly to every three weeks from April, as well as introducing a £35 annual charge for garden waste collections from the summer.

READ MORE: Residents face three-week waits for green bin uplifts

However, the cabinet was told that tough decisions would need to be made to fill the gap in funding faced in the years ahead.

Sarah Fortune, the council’s finance chief, said: “This is the most significant funding gap this council has ever faced. It is not just next year, it is across the coming horizon.

“We are now going to have to significantly change how we prioritise our services and what we are going to do.”

The cabinet meeting heard that local authorities were being provided with funding to introduce a council tax freeze next year but that East Lothian’s share fell short of the equivalent amount which would have been raised if it had introduced a five per cent increase.

Councils are able to increase council tax if they choose but will forego their share of the Scottish Government freeze funding if they do.

READ MORE: East Lothian Council brown bins: £35 annual charge confirmed

Ellie Dunnet, the council’s head of finance, told the meeting that the current funding gap would need substantially more than the five per cent rise suggested.

She said: “If we were to meet the gap we would have to increase council tax by 21 per cent, which would be a weekly rise of £5.78 for a Band D home.”

Councillor Norman Hampshire, council leader, said that the local authority continued to meet national government demands for more housing, despite the lack of local funding to support it.

He said: “The Scottish Government has asked us to deliver 10,000 new homes and we are doing that.

"We have delivered up to five new primary schools and a secondary school to meet the growth but to fund that we are now facing cutting council services.

“This is not sustainable and long term, if it continues, our services are going to collapse.”

READ MORE: East Lothian Council facing financial challenges 'never seen before’

The meeting had heard that the draft Scottish Government grant for the council in the year ahead included more than £2 million in additional funds but was nowhere near enough to fill the gap.

It said: “While this represents some improvement in the projected funding shortfall previously shared with council, the scale of the five-year budget gap remains hugely significant, particularly when considered in the context in proportion to the council’s overall annual expenditure budget.

“Financial sustainability continues to be the most significant risk currently facing the council and this presents an ongoing threat to our capacity to sustain delivery of core services.”

The report was for noting as the council prepares to draw up its budget for the year ahead.