THE leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council has responded to news the authority’s budget will see the joint biggest drop in Wales next year.

Cllr David Poole spoke out after the Welsh Government’s draft local government settlement, which showed funding for the council would decrease by £2.62 million, or one per cent compared with the current year, was announced yesterday.

The Labour leader, who took the reigns of the council in May, said: “Over the past few years we’ve worked hard to protect frontline services and thankfully to date we’ve not seen the type of deep cuts and service disruption that some other councils have experienced.

“However, we simply cannot continue to provide the same services with less money, and some difficult decisions will need to be considered over the coming months as we agree our budget for 2018/19.

“We remain committed to doing all we possibly can to minimise the impact upon our residents, but with decreasing budgets it is inevitable that our community is going to feel some effect from this extremely difficult financial situation.

“As part of the budget setting process, it is very important that members of the public have their say in helping us make the right decisions when delivering such challenging savings targets.

“Once our draft budget proposals for 2018/19 have been presented to cabinet in November, we’ll be consulting widely with our residents and other stakeholders and I’d encourage as many people as possible to get involved in this process and ensure their voice is heard”.