Madam,

I feel I have to write due to the positive way in which the meeting of Ceredigion County Council’s Learning Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on Thursday, 9 May, was conducted.

The main item on the agenda was the recommendation, or otherwise, to the Cabinet of the plans to cut the music service budget by £250,000.

The report on the proposed cuts suggests that steps could be taken to drastically cut the budget without compromising and, in some details, actually enhancing the present service.

While the report was praised for its breadth, some councillors felt that there was a lack of detail concerning the actual ways in which this transformation could be achieved.

Also remarked upon was the short amount of time the committee had been given to consider the report.

Addressing the committee, Cllr Ceredig Davies stated he had proof that the Cabinet member for education, Cllr Catrin Miles, had been aware of the details of the proposed cuts as long ago as December 2018, an assertion which was not fully addressed by Cllr Miles nor chief executive Eifion Evans, who was present.

This challenging of the quality and amount of information provided by officers of the county council to the elected members when necessary and full disclosure of information between officers and members is surely how a healthy council should operate.

The outcome of the meeting was that Cllr Keith Evans’ proposal, that any decision on cuts to the Music Service be deferred until the committee had sufficient information to consider the changes in greater detail and to include the Friends of Ceredigion Young Musicians and the music service, was adopted by the committee by nine votes to five.

This meeting was an object lesson in how local democracy should work, with councillors not just accepting members’ submissions but questioning them when required and demanding full transparency and flow of information with which to base fully considered responses.

Great also to see the councillors committing themselves to working with the Friends of Ceredigion Young Musicians, in addition to the music service, to take this issue forward.

Yours etc, George Holloway, Rhoshendre, Waunfawr, Aberystwyth.

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