Devon County Council has announced it will have to cut a further £40 million from its spending next year, with about £30 million having to be pulled from local services.

The move follows £54.6 million reductions the authority made earlier this year, and comes as part of the Government's decision to cut local councils' budgets by 26 per cent over the next four years.

More than £10 million will be found by cutting management, administrative costs and back-office expenditure, the council has said, but the rest of the cuts are likely to come from public services.

Devon County Council leader John Hart is launching a new round of public consultations on the tough spending choices the authority is facing.

"There is no doubt we continue to face tough choices ahead, but the feedback from the people of Devon will help my colleagues and I take the decisions we have to take over the coming weeks," he said.

Mr Hart has urged residents to join in the consultations again this year and has vowed their views would be taken into account as the authority finalises its budget for 2012/13.

"In these difficult times, councils are having to work smarter with the money that they get," said Nick Harvey, North Devon MP.

"Talking to local people about their views is very important when it comes to setting a budget."

Last year, the top public priorities for continued or additional funding were protecting children from abuse, home care for the elderly, support for people who care for others and supporting children with special needs.

Those services most identified for savings were street lighting, tourism promotion and public transport subsidies.

Almost 1,000 people attended the 15 public meetings in market towns across the county last year, with more than 35,000 people suggesting ways to make cutbacks.

Mr Hart will also report back on how the council responded to the thousands of suggestions from last year's meetings in a new feature called You Said: We Did.

"We have proved this is a valuable exercise and we have demonstrated that we took account of what people told us last year when we came to set this year's budget," said Mr Hart.

Information on the Tough Choices meetings can be found at www.toughchoices.co.uk