THE leader of Caerphilly council has warned they “will be unable to protect the community” from cuts to services as the authority is due to agree its draft budget proposals for the next two years.

Cllr Dave Poole outlined his concerns ahead of the October announcement of the local government budget settlement, which is expected to include a further reduction in funding for local authorities.

Cllr Poole said the council has worked to “protect frontline services over the years” but there will now be “tough times ahead”.

He said: “Thankfully Caerphilly has not seen the type of deep cuts and service disruption that some other councils have experienced.

“We have achieved significant savings with minimal impact on the public thanks to our prudent approach and sound financial management. However, it is becoming apparent that there are even tougher times ahead and we will be unable to protect the community in the way we have done to date.”

“Over the past few years only a very small proportion of our agreed savings have had a direct impact on the public, with the rest being achieved in internal vacancy management and other ‘back office’ cuts”, Cllr Poole added.

The council leader also said that saving proposals for 2018/19 will have a “direct impact on the public” which may “increase in the future”.

He said: “It is likely that we will need to make savings of up to £9 million next year, depending on the exact details of the local government settlement in October.”

“We will be consulting widely once our draft 2018/19 budget proposals have been presented to Cabinet in November and it is important that as many people as possible get involved in this process.

“Feedback from the community is critical in helping us make the right decisions when delivering challenging savings targets.”