THE leader of Worcester City Council says he wants to be less reliant on direct Government funding - and is calling for a "self sustained" future.

Councillor Simon Geraghty has rejected criticism from the city's Green Party that "appalling and unnecessary" reductions in support could leave Worcester at risk of failing to provide basic services.

But he has warned Whitehall's number crunchers that they should seek to let towns and cities keep more of the cash they raise via taxes in the future.

For the new 2015/16 financial year starting next month, as we have previously reported the city council's funding grant is falling from £5 million to £4.2 million, a 15 per cent cut.

Councillor Neil Laurenson, from the city's Green Party, has leapt on a national BBC survey suggesting around half of UK councils will struggle to fulfil their legal duties due to the reductions nationwide.

But Cllr Geraghty said: "We have just set a balanced budget for the next year and our medium term financial plan has a balanced budget for the next two years.

"I am absolutely confident we can deliver our statutory responsibilities for the foreseeable future."

Speaking during a council meeting, Cllr Laurenson said: "You have just accepted the appalling and unnecessary cuts thrown our way by the Coalition Government.

"When are you going to tell Westminster that the cuts are not on?"

But Cllr Geraghty said some other funding pots, like the New Homes Bonus which is worth more than £12 million to Worcester by 2020, makes the true picture more complicated.

The New Homes Bonus is a reward for local authorities pushing through new property building in their area.

As your Worcester News revealed last month, the kitty could be scrapped and replaced by an alternative fund if Labour wins the General Election.

Cllr Geraghty said: "It's bizarre to talk about reductions on one hand but don't accept the fact we do have some increases on the other.

"But I do think more local authorities should have much more control of the revenue that comes to them - my vision is of a 'self sustained' council.

"This existing model of a centralised system where all this money (raised via household and business taxes) is sent to the Treasury to be re-distributed under a formula we don't really understand, I believe it needs to go much further.

"We're generating money in this city ourselves, we just don't get to keep enough of it and that's got to change."