AS NEWPORT council looks at possible budget cuts of £34 million by 2017, residents have been turning to the web to share their thoughts.

Last week, Will Godfrey told the Argus how Newport council may look in four years time, with fewer staff, buildings and services.

The chief executive says he wants to start a conversation with people in Newport about the type of public services the city wants, and what can be delivered within the era of austerity.

His proposals include a leisure facilities trust and reducing some services that don’t have to be provided by law.

The report says that the council’s budget is likely to fall from £254 million in 2013/14, to £220 million by April 2017, 14 per cent less than the current year.

On The South Wales Argus website, one user, heresphil, wrote: “There are plenty of examples of councils around the country who are already at a further stage through this painful process so hopefully Newport CC will be able to find some examples of good practice that they can adopt.

“Leisure and library trusts are commonplace now and, as has been said many times before, Newport should proactively work with other local public sector bodies to adopt shared services and resources where possible.”

While, fedupjon, said: “Newport portrays a very sad picture that will undoubtly be repeated across most of Wales. Wales can no longer sustain 22 Councils running major services, so when are the Welsh Assembly going to tackle this problem and reorganise local government in Wales.

“A more sensible figure would be 10/12 Councils rather than mess about with shared services between authorities with no ownership. Just imagine what could be saved by the loss of 10 chief executives, Directors of Education and Social Services and many more senior posts.”

On Facebook, Phill Doherty wrote: “How can they make any more cuts, they've shut everything, libraries, schools etc.

“They've given away housing responsibility which made no business sense. What's left, close the parks?”