Madam,

In reply to Dilwyn Williams, chief executive of Gwynedd Council, SOS Gwynedd welcomes his reassurance that final decisions on the cuts will be taken at a full council meeting. Meanwhile, we also continue to urge members of the public to engage in the Gwynedd Challenge consultation right up to the new deadline of 30 November. However, we trust that the council will also be taking account of expert opinion, such as that of the Auditor General ( as reported in the Cambrian News, 5 November, ‘Certain cuts may be shortsighted’), as well as listening to the input of the Federation of Small Businesses, who, like ourselves, are saying that Council departments could be more inventive with trimmed budgets.

Cutting out whole services or signing off on their disappearance in whole areas of Gwynedd is not the answer, as hundreds of petitioners are telling us. We say that percentage budget trimming could be applied both more fairly and more sensitively than this, with some of the burden shared all round, but with decisions on the trim for each service or back-room department as subtly varied as needs be. At the forefront of every councillors’ mind should be the often expressed opinion, conceded by Mr Williams, that front-line services should be protected and prioritised.

Yours,Quentin Deakin, Chairman, SOS Gwynedd, 23 Corbett Avenue,Tywyn