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A public consultation into budget cuts has been started by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.

A total of 12 proposals are being put forward in an effort to save money and to plug the “budget gap”, after central government cut the level of funding to public services, the authority said.

The biggest savings proposals include a reduction in opening hours of the library service.

A saving of £158,000 per year will be made by closing Dowlais and Treharris libraries on Saturdays and closing all libraries at 6pm on all other days.

The mobile library service is also proposed to be removed.

Other huge savings proposals include removing available seats on buses for pupils who live within walking distance of schools.

This will save £142,000 a year, while a saving of £115,000 per year will be made by removing post-16 free home to school and college transport.

The borough is in the process of forming a budget which will include about £15.3m of savings during the next four years.

The main proposals are:

The Healthy Ageing Programme would be included with other services that are already offered, saving £30,000 per year.

The two residential care homes for people with learning disabilities, at Park View and Glendere, would no longer be registered care homes, saving £22,000 per year.

Support for children with disabilities would be “focused on the families most in need”, saving £50,000 per year.

The current meals on wheels service will no longer be provided by the council, saving £98,000 per year.

The Forest Road Older Persons’ Day Centre Service in Treharris would be closed, with current users relocated to an alternative day centre within the county borough, saving £80,000 per year.

All part-time youth centres throughout the county borough will be closed, as will the Town Centre Information Shop, saving £92,000 over two years.

The opening hours of the library service would be reduced, by closing Dowlais and Treharris libraries on Saturdays and closing all libraries at 6pm on all other days. It is also proposed to remove the mobile library service, but to continue to provide the Homelinks service, saving £158,000 per year.

A change of use would be applied for at the Gurnos Community Centre which would potentially accommodate Flying Start, a pre-school nursery provision, saving £40,000 per year.

The Tourist Information Centres in the Town Centre and at Parc Taf Bargoed would be closed, with the services offered at alternative venues such as Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and/or the Civic Centre, saving £55,000 per year.

Public toilets in Ponsticill, Dowlais and the Town Centre Bus Station would be closed, saving £65,000 per year.

Pupils who are within walking distance of school would no longer have a seat available on their bus, saving £142,000 per year.

The post-16 free home to school and free home to college transport would be scrapped, saving £115,000 per year.

A council spokesman said: “The proposals within this consultation will unfortunately mean that we will need to reduce our level of services.

"However, as always, we will continue to work extremely hard in order to protect the most vulnerable in society.

“A key part of this consultation process is to gauge the views of our residents, staff and key stakeholders on our proposals before they are put before councillors in the coming months.

“We want to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to take part in this consultation process and we will be letting people know about these proposals via posters, leaflets and the council’s website.”

Leader of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, Councillor Brendan Toomey, said: “Even with the settlement from Welsh Government being better than expected, this council, along with all other councils in Wales, still faces a huge financial challenge which is unprecedented.”

Coun Toomey added: “We have no choice, but to consider all options of how we can save money and, unfortunately, this means that there will be a reduction in council services and jobs within the authority.

“As much as we possibly can, we want to minimise the impact on you, our customer and it is vital that we have your views on the proposals that have been put forward for consultation.”

The budget consultation, which opened on Monday, January 6, closes on Monday, February 3, at 5pm.

For more information on the proposals and consultation, visit www.merthyr.gov.uk/servicechanges