ONE THOUSAND jobs – a sixth of the workforce – are due to go in major programme announced by Gloucestershire county council to save £108 million in four years.

One in three management jobs will also go.

The measures are being described as The Big Community Offer in which more than 30 buildings and assets worth millions of pounds will go to the public to help run libraries, and youth clubs.

Talks are said to be at an advanced stage on the running of a community library in Lechlade. This would involve parishes, community groups and volunteers.

There are also plans to shut the Newholme day centre for the elderly in Cirenester. The council says feedback showed that people wanted more help to live independently, and that more care for the elderly would from "personal care budgets". The total cash budget for Community and Adult Care will remain unchanged next year, and the council says care for the elderly and vulnerable should be protected.

County Council Leader Cllr Mark Hawthorne said the programme came from the biggest and widest public consultation exercise in a generation.

"We have put a fair and balanced proposal forward and Cirencester will remain an important hub for council services", he told The Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard.

" We recognise the importance of rural communities and hope that people in the South Cotswolds step forward to help deliver community services that are important to them.

"We have made some pretty radical proposals. We have prioritised social care service for adults and children, which means changes will be made elsewhere", he said.

"These have been difficult decisions and we will now enter a period of consultation. I know we will be judged on how we handle such huge change, but I hope Gloucestershire residents take time to understand the reasons behind these changes."

The main measures are: * Saving £40 million by cutting "back office" staff, more efficient working and sharing human resources, information technology and finance services with other authorities.

* Setting up libraries and youth centres to be run by community groups, or in a 50-50 operation. Modernising libraries with more material available on-line. Turning them into "one-stop shops" for other council services like health advice and registering births.

* Making £50,000 grants available to help voluntary groups run services for young people.

* Cuts in road improvements, traffic calming and speed cameras with money going instead on pothole filling and gulley cleaning.

* Scrapping uneconomic, subsidised bus services and ending school transport to faith schools, including Catholic schools, and to grammar schools and most special schools. Children already receiving free transport would not be affected until they left school at 16. Children from low-income families and rural communities would be supported.

* Ending the funding of 63 additional police officers in 2013.

* Scrapping a planned £5.7 million archives storage facility.

Lib Dem leader, Cllr. Jeremy Hilton, said: "Our concern is that the Tories have a gung-ho attitude to the cuts and that our services will be cut much further than is necessary.

"Liberal Democrats will be studying the detail of these cuts to determine the savings we can support and the cuts we cannot."

The proposals come after a major public consultation exercise in which more than 5,000 people were spoken to and 2,800 separate responses were given.

A new website will be set-up to advise people on how to run voluntary organisations, and how to place volunteers in the right roles.

The county council says that town and parish councils will play a greater part in providing services. A meeting about this will be held next month.