Six public meetings to be held over cuts
Six public meetings will be held in the new year to discuss budget pressures facing Powys County Council which will result in 300 redundancies.
The drop-in sessions will be held between January 13 and 16 and will include meetings in Newtown, Welshpool and Machynlleth.
Council chiefs say they want to hear what services people want to see protected or what can be lost.
The authority is facing a £20 million funding shortfall in the next financial year and a £40 million black hole over the next three years and has announced it is looking to cut 300 posts.
Meetings will be held at Y Plas in Machynlleth on January 13 at Theatr Hafren in Newtown on January 15 and the following day in Welshpool at a venue to be confirmed. Further meetings will also be held in Brecon, Llandrindod Wells and Ystradgynlais. Councillor David Jones, council leader, warned that some services would be axed to make the necessary services. He said some charges could be introduced to services such as pre-planning application advice and that charges could be increased for car parking and leisure centre admission to generate more income.
Councillor Jones said: "The scale of budget pressures mean that some services will no longer be provided by the county council. In some cases similar provision may be provided by local communities or other organisations but some services will disappear altogether.
"We have already embarked on major changes to the way we work and will see a very significant reduction in the number of people working for the council. We anticipate that staff levels will decrease significantly in these difficult times.
"Changes in the way public services are funded, with a greater emphasis on health and less on local government means that some services traditionally provided by the council will not be provided in future."
He added levels of council tax would also be examined, and said every one per cent increase would generate £580,000 in income for the authority.
