Torfaen taxpayers invited to discuss £25m of cuts

Torfaen residents could bear the brunt of the cuts with £10.8m of savings planned in 16/17, followed by a further £7.6m in 17/18, and £7.3m in 18/19.

Among the proposals, Torfaen council would save £800,000 by introducing green waste collection charges of £20-80 a year and £70,000 by increasing cemetery charges by 30 per cent.

Another £250,000 could be saved by reviewing library services including opening hours, and £200,000 through street maintenance cuts.

About £70,000 would also be saved by stopping the pest control service and nearly £500,000 through staff reductions in planning, licensing, trading standards and environmental health.

More than £1m could be shaved off budgets by restructuring the adult service, which could lead to increased caseloads, waiting lists and redundancies.

Around £2.5m would be saved by reducing staff across the education service, though school budgets would not be affected, social worker posts would be deleted, and the Mayor of Torfaen could even lose his chauffeur.

Council officers will hold engagements events on the cuts at venues across Torfaen this month.

One such event will take place tomorrow at Pontypool Active Living Centre Centre between 9.30am and 3pm.

Torfaen council deputy leader, Cllr Anthony Hunt, said: "This situation is the unfortunate result of austerity from the UK Government.

“We would not choose to be in this position, but our job is to do the best we can to protect local services.

“We also want to listen to the views of the public and understand what matters to them before reaching a final settled budget and selecting priorities for the next corporate plan.”

Councillors are to attend a joint scrutiny workshop on November 18 to discuss the proposed cuts.

Torfaen council said it was planning to reduce the number of priorities from seven to just three.

Last month [October], Torfaen councillors were told that priorities would continue to be to keep Torfaen cleaner and greener, protect the most vulnerable residents and raise educational attainment.

The council Cabinet will be requested to take any recommendations from scrutiny into account to agree budget, medium-term financial plan and savings measures for the three years, Torfaen council said.

Final budget decisions and council tax levels will need to be concluded in March 2016 as part of the council’s legal duty to deliver a balanced budget for 2016/17, the council spokesman added.

Proposed savings between 2016 and 2019:

* Neighbourhood Services:

16/17 £2.2m including £800k by introducing green waste collection charge of £20-80 a year, £70k increase cemetery charges by another 30 per cent, £260k reduction of eight or nine posts in the service, £250k by creating a Waste Recyclates Bulking Station, £80k leisure trust management fee reduction

17/18 £1.8m including £940k to transfer services into a new delivery model, £250k review of library services including opening hours

18/19 £1m including £640k to transfer services into a new delivery model, £200k street maintenance light reduction £150k leisure trust management fee reduction

* Social Care & Housing:

Adult Services

16/17 £1.5m including about £300k staff restructure

17/18 £1.5m including about £500k Adult service restructure which could lead to increased caseloads and waiting lists redundancies

18/19 £1m including about £500k Adult service restructure which could lead to increased caseloads and waiting lists redundancies

Children & Family Services

16/17 £770k including £180k by bringing back independent family support service in house

17/18 £570k including £120k deleting three social worker posts – caseloads already in excess of Laming recommendations

18/19 £550k including £100k closing all existing children in need cases and those not allocated

Commissioning and Business Support

16/17 £180k

17/18 £140k

18/19 £130k

Housing

16/17 £140k including £25k staff restructure and reduction in prevention services which could lead to potential increase in number vulnerable adults and homelessness

17/18 £100k no breakdown available

18/19 £90k no breakdown available

* Planning & Public Protection:

16/17 £300k including £70k by stopping residents’ pest control service and £140k by reducing planning staff

17/18 £230k including staff reduction in planning, licensing, trading standards and environmental health

18/19 £200k including staff reduction in planning, licensing, trading standards and environmental health

* Communities:

16/17 £770k including £110k Torfaen training, £50k youth service staff reduction, £300k Adult and Community Learning

17/18 270k including £110k in youth service play service sports development

18/19 £233k including £110k in youth service play service sports development

* Education (Not Schools):

16/17 £1.2m including £510k staff reduction across the service, and up to £270k reduce contribution to music and outdoor service

17/18 £1m staff reduction across the service

18/19 £910k staff reduction across the service

* Public Services Support Unit:

16/17 £110k

17/18 £90k

18/19 £80k

* Resources:

16/17 £820k including £190k review of industrial portfolio

17/18 £570k including £250k service sharing with further rationalisation of staff and service provision

18/19 £510k including £430k service sharing possibly across Gwent with further rationalisation of staff and service provision

* Chief Executives:

16/17 £440k including £80k removing or reducing donations from members to community organisations, £70k restructuring members’ services and reducing Mayoral support and chauffeur driven car

17/18 £190k including £100k reduction of customer service provision

18/19 £270k including £50k reduction in customer service provision

Other engagement events will take place on the following dates:

Monday 16 November, Blaenavon Health Centre, 9am–4.30pm

Wednesday 18 November, Pontypool Indoor Market, 9am–5pm (Welsh speaker available 9am-5pm)

Saturday 21 November, Cwmbran Stadium, 9.30am–3pm

Wednesday 25 November, Tesco Pontypool, 10.30am–7pm

Thursday 26 November, Morrisons Cwmbran, 10.30am–7pm

Friday 27 November, Log Cabin Woodlands Field, 3.30pm–5.30pm.