Council chiefs are drawing up plans for the public to get involved in more civic services.

People in the borough will be asked to help reduce council functions from 21 to 14.

Kirklees Council will unveil details of phase two of the It’s Time to Talk consultation later this week ahead of a budget consultation next month.

Kirklees leaders yesterday summed up phase one, which saw around 8,000 residents get involved at 140 discussion events.

Council leader Clr Mehboob Khan admitted civic enterprises will be needed as Kirklees looks to re-shape itself amid budget cuts.

Clr Khan gave examples of change that residents may see more of: “In Denby Dale the residents are taking over the library. It was just a library for us, but they’re going to have a building with wider ranging services that meets the needs of the community.

“It will be open longer than we could afford to keep it open.

“Another example is winter maintenance – people expect the council to grit every inch of the roads after the first few snowflakes.

“We have to change people’s expectations. We’ll certainly grit some routes, but we’ll provide the support and equipment for communities to do their own bit.”

His third example relates to the adult social care budget: “With an ageing population, unless we take action quickly we’ll end up with a large percentage of the council’s budget on that alone.

“We’ve seen 15,000 volunteer hours of people doing their bit for neighbours which has saved the council millions and put older people at the heart of their communities.”

He said “lessons have been learnt” after the council’s 2012 U-turn over volunteers running libraries and said: “We understand that we can’t go cold into a community with something like that. Phase one has shown us that we need to build trust.”

People were also told Kirklees only needs one public library to fulfil its statutory duty.

And the council predicts that by 2020, without urgent change, 100% of the council’s budget would be spent on adult social care and children’s safeguarding.

Later this week Ruth Redfern, director of communities and transformation, will launch phase two of It’s Time to Talk.

Mrs Redfern said: “Previously I think that people struggled to understand the complexity of council budgets and our legal responsibility.

“Now we’ve explained that, it’s time to decide what the priorities are.”

Clr Khan and Mrs Redfern were speaking at a Leeds Civic Hall event which stems from the Commission on the Future of Local Government.

Clr Keith Wakefield, who chaired the Commission, pressed for greater understanding of what the Big Society means: “There’s a lack of clarity of it ... take it away from politics because it’s become a fig leaf to disguise cuts.”

Clr Wakefield said social and civic enterprises and asset transfers would allow greater community involvement in local services.