­­­JOB losses, further walks for school children and the abolition of grey recycling bags will hit Monmouthshire.

Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) met last Thursday (22nd December) to rubberstamp budget mandates for the year 2015/16.

There will be several job cuts across the county's leisure services. Three managerial positions will be axed along with a reduction in contracted cleaning hours and the loss of three administration jobs.

Transport for post 16 students and concessionary seats will be increased from £1.34 to £2 per day raising £29,000.

The council has successfully saved the closure of services across the county but seeks to charge more for services.

MCC will make a saving of £190,000 across cultural services either through savings or income generation. A review of opening hours will take place, which could include the Shire Hall shutting on a Sunday along with a review of museum opening hours. The council also plans to develop a co-ordinated appropriate wedding package, generating £15,000.

The scrapping of grey bags and a reduction in yellow bag collection will raise £180,000.

Five jobs will also be axed from the county highways department, including four highways operatives and one resource manager. 13 people will also lose their jobs in libraries across the county.

The Labour group at MCC introduced their alternative budget to the council which included pouring £500,000 into the school's education budget, turning the street lights back on, and reversing cuts to the additional learning needs budget.

Their funding methods included advertising on council vehicles and websites, capping private consultants and developing an investment strategy. Labour's budget plans were rejected by councillors.

Labour leader Councillor Dimitri Batrouni said: "We were determined to give schools half a million pounds, put the street lights back on and to reverse all cuts to children with additional learning needs.

"Importantly, we had credible ways to pay for it. The Tories, true to form, made excuses and concluded they wanted to carry on cutting £1.1million from schools, £120,000 from ALN children, and to keep the lights off."

The Independent group at MCC suggested several separate amendments to the budgets.

Councillor Simon Howarth suggested a council tax hike of 5.95 per cent, with the additional money pooled into means tested SEN and post 16 transport and the preservation of highways jobs.

Independent Councillor Debby Blakebrough also put forward a motion to stop funding for transport to faith schools. This was also rejected.

Councillor Phil Murphy, cabinet member with responsibility for finance, said: "Monmouthshire continues to be the least funded county and this year we had a £5.8 million budget gap. We found the public would rather pay more than to see services close.

"I'd like to thank all the officers for the incredible work they put in to the budget and for the public for their engagement."