CEREDIGION County Council’s programme of reforming council services will be funded through the authority’s capital budget, meaning it can borrow money and repay it over a longer period.

Council chiefs have welcomed the Welsh Government giving permission for the authority to use money from the capital programme in 2015/16 to pay for service reform costs with head of finance Steve Johnson insisting the move “takes pressure off the revenue budget” as the council looks to restructure services to stay within the authority’s stretched budget.

The council applied to the Welsh Government for a capitalisation direction, meaning that the authority can access borrowing to be able to meet the capital budget requirements, but have a longer period to repay that money.

A report by Duncan Hall, the council’s group accountant, said: “As a result of the capitalisation direction, the 2015/16 capital programme budget increases by £2.4m to accommodate the budget for service reform costs.