BUDGET cuts by Durham County Council will see cleansing services go down the drain, a fellow authority warned yesterday.

Responding to the county's decision to reduce the level of gully maintenance across the area, Easington District Council has cancelled a 33-year operations agreement with the authority.

Easington claims the county's budget cuts will mean most gullies will be cleaned once a year not twice and has warned the cuts could lead to increased flooding and threaten highway safety.

Councillor George Patterson, Easington's executive member for liveability, said: "Many of the drains in the district are shallow and have a high surface water run-off combined with sewage, and will not cope with the service reductions."

Coun Patterson said his authority was proud of its current gully cleaning programme which could not, however, be maintained under the county's budget cuts.

Easington, he said, did not want to be associated with a "sub-standard" service and was handing its operations back to the county.

The district, he pointed out, pays the county a subsidy for the service, but would now be withdrawing the funding.

He said: "We will continue to urge the county to reconsider these changes."

The county council's director of environment, John Richardson, strongly refuted the suggestion that reducing gully cleaning in Easington would mean service quality going "down the drain".

He said: "I want to reassure residents that we will deliver a cost-effective, professional service that meets their needs.

"The simple fact is that, contrary to the district council's claim, not all of the 17,000 gullies in Easington need cleaning twice a year. Any that do need cleaning twice a year, will be.

"By avoiding unnecessary cleaning and using more efficient working methods we are confident we can provide a much more cost-effective service. That's where our savings will come from."

Reacting to Easington's decision to hand back the service, Mr Richardson assured staff that his council would protect their jobs.