MONMOUTHSHIRE County Council's (MCC) series of public engagements had officers facing some probing questions from the public over cuts to services. Savings of £10m over the next three years have to be made, on top of the £20m saved since 2011/2012.

In Monmouth last week, (6th January), topics varied from the outlook for the new pool to alterations to school transport arrangements, and included a question from 10 year-old Josh Thornton over cuts to the Attik, Monmouth's youth club.

He wanted to know why the Attik is having to save so much money out of the youth service.

The council want to make £200,000 of savings to the Monmouthshire Youth Service despite 40 per cent of it's income coming from external sources.

It was explained that MCC were being creative in their approach and looking to generate more income so they could offer more services.

Changes include offering more training for staff, a well-being centre for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, getting bodies such as scouts, guides and other voluntary groups to work closer together, and increasing volunteering across the authority. It was a case of having to work differently he was told.

Fellow pupil, Georgina Haycock was also worried that she may not be able to attend Gwent Music Service now that her rates had risen from £75 to £156 a term now that the council is looking to make a funding cut of £50,000 to the service.

Gwent Music Service provides support to 3,578 pupils in the county in the form of instrument lessons, and one of the proposals is to consider charging more for instrument hire. A charge was introduced this year, amounting to £15.50 per pupil each term, and an increase to £31 is being considered.

She was told that the council was setting up a hardship fund so that any person in that position can apply for help.

Barbara Wright wanted to know about the current position of the swimming pool. Phil Murphy, whose area of responsibility includes resources, said that the plan is tied up with the development of the school and the council were making alternative provision.

"It is inevitable there will be a period when Monmouth will be without a pool, we are doing everything we can to make sure that period is as short as possible," said Mr Murphy.

"We did go to Welsh Government with an application for assistance. The implications are we will be successful but we do not have confirmation yet,"

One man said that he had been shocked when he had contact with a local special needs unit (SEN) in Monmouth over the low funding they have, and was concerned that the council may be going too far with cost reductions.

It was admitted that funding was very tight, as the MCC is trying to do things at a lower cost. It was confirmed that the SEN hubs will stay as they are, which includes that at Monmouth.

The principal officer for additional leaning needs, Stephanie Hawkins, said: "We do send a significant number of our children outside our borders to receive special educational needs help so we are looking to train staff to take on extra responsibility.

"Our current review will look to spend the money we have within our authority and tackle the criticism from Estyn that we send too many of our pupils out of county."

A question from Desmond Pugh noted that the council planned to save £30,000 on cutting some free home to school transport payments and asked them to confirm they were spending that same amount of money raising the salary of the staff from a minimum wage to a living wage.

Phil Murphy replied that they introduced the living wage last year and have decided to continue with paying it. The cost of implementing that is in the region of £26,000.

Peter Fox, leader of the council added that it was very easy to trade off one thing against another. With regard to the change in transport policy he added they were just extending the distance within which pupils get free transport.

"There will be other pupils that will have to find other means of getting to school but that is in line with policy virtually all over Wales.

"We were one of the only authorities being as generous as we are. I know it's a difficult message for some but no childs' safety will be put at risk over this and if there is anybody that believes they will not have a safe route to school, as the current policy says, we will be providing that transport. The policy in essence hasn't changed, it's just the statutory distance," he said.

The proposals are due to be confirmed by full council on 22nd January.