THE consultation period for Newport council’s budget cuts may be at an end, but it is clear there are some proposed savings only just seeping into the public conciousness.

An end to spending on events like the Big Splash, the city’s food festival and the Christmas lights switch-on are just a few examples of this.

There has been much social media activity concerning these issues in recent days.

And yesterday a group of councillors suggested the council should be protecting these key events. They also suggested council proposals to fund the events via corporate sponsorship were fanciful.

While we admire the stance taken by councillors on the street scene, regeneration and safety scrutiny committee (a shorter name would surely save some ink and paper at least), the fact is there is probably a good argument to be made against every cut being made by every council in the country.

The harsh wind of economic reality is blowing through the public sector at the moment. Some things have to go.

We do not disagree that events like the food festival and the Big Splash are important to Newport. But so are libraries and care homes and almost everything else local councils do.

The role of every councillor now is to make tough decisions or come up with innovative alternatives.