A campaign group fighting to protect Ceredigion Council’s music service has urged councillors to question council figures on cuts to the service ahead of a scrutiny committee meeting.

Members of the Learning Communities Scrutiny Committee will meet tomorrow (Thursday, 9 May), to discuss the future of the music service with council chiefs wanting to make large scale cuts to funding for the service.

While the council claims that the service will see a core funding cut of 32.5 per cent and that fees charged for those receiving the service will help boost that core funding, members of Friends of Ceredigion Young Musicians have questioned those figures and cast doubt on the council’s justification for making the cuts.

Delyth James, of the group, said: "We are looking to our elected councillors to fulfil their role of scrutinising officers’s plans. And in this case we don’t believe that they have been given the full facts yet.

"The information which has been given to councillors so far has included no details on exactly how a music service could be maintained on a fraction of its previous budget.

"Our research has shown too that the figures that have been presented are, at best, incomplete and misleading.

"It can’t be right that a revolution to a service, which is valued by so many children, can be passed without proper scrutiny and accountability.

"The council budget, as passed by the Cabinet, shows music service funding being maintained at its current level, with cuts only being proposed after the budget was approved."

The group has demanded that the proposals to change the service are abandoned, especially as councillors agreed an additional two per cent council tax increase to protect education.

That call has been backed by Labour in Ceredigion, and branch chair Tom O’Malley said: "The fear is that parents will be asked to pay much more to keep any kind of music service running.

"This council’s philistine plans would make music the preserve of the elite, which runs completely against our local traditions and values."

But Meinir Ebbsworth, the council’s corporate lead officer for schools, said: "We want to continue to support music provision when faced with the need to make significant financial savings.

"Unfortunately, financial pressure is forcing us to restructure the service.

"This is the last thing we want to do and we are using the formal process to do this in a fair way.

"We have no choice but to make tough cuts in all areas of the council’s budget."