NEWCASTLE’S final £100m cuts package will see some libraries axed as the council prepares for a “turbulent” future.

The measures will see only Fenham and Cruddas Park definitely removed from the list of 10 libraries to be axed.

Services in Jesmond and High Heaton may remain open if a community group can be formed, but it is likely that the libraries will first be temporarily closed.

The council has also confirmed the city pool will be closed, as will its Turkish baths.

Already this week the council has said it will find £600,000 a year for arts venues facing a 100% reduction in funding. The City Hall music venue will also be saved, assuming the Theatre Royal can succeed in its plan to run the venue more profitably.

A council consultation saw more than 54,000 comments feed into the budget process, alongside repeated protests and petitions backed by thousands.

But overall the budget contains many of the proposed cuts first announced last year, with little spare cash available to save services.

Bin collections will still switch to fortnightly and care departments will still face difficult-to-manage budget reductions. Care for the elderly is now set to be offered only to those with a critical need, meaning end-of-life care only in many cases.

And 1,300 jobs are still in the firing line with no guarantee that compulsory redundancies will be avoided.

Council leader Nick Forbes said the “bruising” budget process was one forced onto the council as a result of Government cuts repeatedly described as unfair by his local authority.

The decision to set a three-year budget was criticised by some who said the third year of spending was too uncertain to plan for. Mr Forbes insisted people needed the extra time to prepare for the reduction in funding.

“We are doing this to prepare the city for some very turbulent times. We were one of the first to announce some of these moves, but others will find they follow. Our biggest fear now is that these and any additional cuts will make it increasingly difficult to fulfil our role as a council,“ Mr Forbes warned.