A KEY council official has confirmed all scheduled service cuts, including closure of public toilets and salt bin provision, will still go ahead despite Gwynedd Council receiving an increase in its grant from the Welsh Government.

Gwynedd Council’s new financial package was the most generous given to a local authority in this autumn’s budget, with their grant increased by 0.9 per cent compared to last year, the largest percentage increase of all of the county councils.

By comparison, 10 other county councils actually had their budgets slashed further.

However Gwynedd Council’s finance cabinet member, councillor Peredur Jenkins was quick to point out that despite the apparent increase in funding, Gwynedd Council still faced a ‘real terms’ cut.

He said: As a council we have had to face up to huge funding cuts over many years.

“Given this, any respite - however temporary and modest - is to be welcomed, as is the fact that the Welsh Government has acknowledged the argument that we have been making for a number of years that it is more expensive to provide public services in large sparsely populated areas like Gwynedd.

“It should however be remembered that the total funding increase for Wales’ 22 local authorities for 2017/18 amounts to a mere £1.5m and that Gwynedd’s share of this sum would have been around £167,000.

“To put this figure in context, the government’s decision to raise the cap on the amount individuals who receive local authority care from £24,000 to £30,000 will in itself cost Gwynedd Council more than £167,000.

“Despite the fact that Gwynedd Council will receive a slightly better settlement than other councils in Wales for 2017/18 in recognition of the higher cost of delivering local services in our area, we will still be facing a further cut in our ‘real terms’ budget for the year."

Read the full story in this week’s north editions of the Cambrian News, out Thursdsay