Ceredigion council leader Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn has taken the Welsh Assembly to task over drastic cuts to local council budgets.

Cllr ap Gwynn told the Assembly's finance committee that the Welsh government draft budget was unfair and criticised the fact that Ceredigion took the harshest cut of 4.5%.

She said it was clear that recent settlements take far less account of rurality and does not reflect the additional costs of delivering services in relatively sparsely populated areas. The settlement favours more urban areas as the funding formulae take more account of factors and characteristics which favour densely populated areas. Ceredigion is the fourth largest county in Wales in terms of geography ,and the distances involved is a significant issue for the delivery of services and access to services by service users.

Cllr ap Gwynn said:

"Drawing up a budget for 2015/16, and the subsequent years, is a very challenging process, and as a result we will have to make difficult decisions in order to balance the budget.

Having suffered budget cuts of £9.5m this year, 2014-15, work is already underway to find further savings for next year. The news means that an additional £9.5m savings need to be found for 2015-16 before a balanced budget can be set.

The Cabinet agreed the first proposal for savings on October 7, and these will now be considered by all Scrutiny Committees to help prepare a balanced budget for 2015/16.

We will try as best we can to keep services going for the benefit of Ceredigion citizens at this difficult time. "