Northamptonshire’s cuts will be felt in even its leafiest and most prosperous areas. Dig into the council’s cuts plans and you find an axe taken to highways budgets – less pothole filling, winter gritting and traffic light maintenance. The council expects legal challenges to these, too.

There is the removal of bus subsidies on rural routes connecting the county’s villages, another source of growing anger, and cuts to the county’s museums and heritage sites. If the council can charge for a service, or raise charges, it most likely will. Recycling centres may close; local charities will see grants disappear.

These are just the existing cuts plans: what is required in the next few months will take the council into uncharted territory. The two big areas of expenditure are adult and children’s social care. Expect tighter restrictions on who gets that care. The council has made clear that it will provide the legal minimum, to “those most in need only”.

The council’s Tory leader, Matthew Golby, promised that no vulnerable children would be put in danger despite the cuts and the council would meet its legal obligations to provide core services. Politically, he cannot say otherwise. In the next few months, his assertions will be severely tested.

The acting chief executive and chief financial officer at a crisis-hit council have both resigned.

Andrew Quincey and Mark McLaughlin have been working under two government-appointed commissioners at Northamptonshire County Council.

The commissioners were put in place in May to try to steer the authority out of its financial crisis.

Councillors were told of the resignations in an email from the Tory council leader Matt Golby.

He wrote that interim chief executive Mr Quincey, who took up his post in April, would leave on 27 July.

“Last week he handed in his resignation… and will shortly be taking a new role working on a major construction project in Sydney, Australia,” Mr Golby wrote on Friday.

“Our chief finance officer Mark McLaughlin has also handed in his resignation.

“Mark has made it clear that as the commissioners are now in post and the recruitment process is under way for a new chief executive, the council is moving into its next phase and therefore it is only right that he steps aside.”

Interviews for a new permanent chief executive will take place on Monday and the successful candidate will be announced on 19 July.

Andrew Quincey took over the role following the resignation of previous interim Damon Lawrenson.

Mark McLaughlin, who leaves at the end of July, joined the authority in December and in February issued a 114 notice, which banned all new expenditure.

Mr Golby thanked both officers for their work in this “tumultuous time” and said they will not receive settlement payments as they took voluntary redundancy.

The council was forced to impose emergency spending controls after admitting that “severe financial challenges” meant it was unable to meet its obligations in the current financial year.

It issued a section 114 notice, the first council to do so in two decades. This imposed financial controls and banned expenditure on all services except those with statutory safeguarding obligations.

The National Audit Office has suggested that up to 15 other local councils could follow suit in the next three years as they struggle to cope with increasing demand for social care at the same time as coping with a 50% cut in central government funding over the last eight years.

Max Caller, who led the government investigation, said the council’s problems were so deep and ingrained it would be impossible for it to return to “stability and safety” in a reasonable timescale on its own.