Bromley Council faces significant pressure to plug a long term funding gap of £75M over the next four years.

According to a report that councillors will see this week, the council will have to scrap some services in order to claw back some of the cash it will lose from Government cuts.

Government cuts to councils, paired with ongoing pressures, means the council has a gap of £5.2M by 2020 - a figure that will jump to £30.7M by 2021 and then £38.7M by 2022, according to budget forecasting.

Councillor Simon Fawthrop, chairman of the executive resources committee, said in the foreword to the report: "The Council has a legal obligation to set a balanced budget, so effort is needed to generate income and find additional savings over this period.

"The funding gap can’t be closed without taking some difficult decisions and halting some services all together.

"Due to its prudent financial management, Bromley Council is able to deal with these challenges but needs to ensure that early decisions are taken and adequate reserves are retained and where appropriate invested to maintain sustainable finances."

The council has made savings in the last year and filed a balanced budget this year - agreeing an increase of 3.99 per cent for council tax to combat the looming budget gap, including a two per cent increase to fund social care.

The Mayor of London upped his share, meaning an increase of 4.21 one per cent for Bromley residents - and forecasters are predicted another increase of 3.99 per cent next year to combat the gap.

According to a council budget report: "The remaining budget gap highlights that the Council, on a roll forward basis, has a ‘structural deficit’ as the ongoing budget has increasing costs relating to inflation and service pressures as well as the ongoing loss of Government grants."

Cllr Anglea Wilkins, leader of Bromley Labour, said: "As in previous years, the Labour Group put forward an alternative budget last month which was not accepted by full council, but which showed that there are other ways of providing a balanced budget whilst protecting and reversing some cuts, largely by re-directing the council's spending priorities back to services and away from commercial property investments."

Nationally, local councils are "struggling to juggle" higher demands for services against cost pressures.

This comes as the National Audit Office reported that there have been nearly 50 per cent of funding cuts since 2010.

The main challenges facing the council include inflation, the impact of National Living Wage, and having government grants scrapped.

The council is predicting to lose up to £8.5M in government grants by next year - and a further 22.5M is expected to be lost by 2022.

The report will be heard at the Executive & Resources Committee and will then be heard at a full council meeting.