Lewisham's mayor will consider £26.8m in cuts this week (Feb 11) as austerity takes a further chunk out of the council's budget.

A mayor and cabinet meeting will look at the cuts - part of £39m in savings penciled in for 2015/16, with £85m overall planned over the next three years - all blamed on cuts to local authority funding by central government.

Overall, the cuts being considered - which include a £1.5m reduction in grants to voluntary groups, £400,000 axed from street cleaning, and an end to discretionary Freedom Passes for 1,175 people who do not meet national criteria - could see an estimated 289 staff made redundant. 

Some of the biggest cuts will affect adult care packages - including the end of the councils' Meals on Wheels contract - with an estimated saving of £2.68m, along with a £1.5m cut to on-to one 24-hour learning disability care packages.

And particular concern has been raised about a proposed £1.3m cut to social care - still to be consulted upon - which would reduce the council's door to door transport service and could see day centres remain but converted into "community hubs" for other services.

Helen Bashford, who runs the Lewisham Sports Club for people with learning disabilities and whose 37-year-old daughter Kelly has cerebral palsy, has attended several meetings on the proposal.

She said: "To be honesty we're none the wiser. The council don't seem to have any idea wbaout what these community hubs are going to look like."

Ms Bashford said people were "very concerned" about proposals to give carers a persoanl budget to buy services themselves, claiming the amount of money on offer woudl leave some people with half the day centre time they currently receive. The often elderly parents of adults with special needs would then have to cope with those extra hours.

She said: "These plans need to be put on hold until there's a clearer idea about how it will work."

If agreed, the proposals will be put forward for a decision at the next full council meeting.