THE Vale of Glamorgan Council has said it needs to make a total of £53 million of savings before the end of the financial year, 2017/18.

£35 million has been saved since 2010, but the authority said a further £12 million needs to be found in the year 2016/17 and £6 million in the year 2017/18.

In its Reshaping the Vale, Corporate Plan and Budget Consultation 2016/17 the council said it had been making significant savings, across the organisation, for six years.

A council spokesman said: “The Vale of Glamorgan Council has made savings of £35 million since 2010/11.

"We estimate that due to further cuts to our funding, the result of central government’s austerity agenda, and increasing cost pressures, an additional £18 million will have to be saved in the next two financial years.

"If these predictions prove to be correct then the council will have reduced its spending by £53 million in total.”

The council said by operating more efficiently and changing the way services were delivered it had continued to provide the vast majority of services that it always had.

But it said cuts to the council’s budget meant that savings will continue to be needed.

It said its budget to deliver services was also reducing while the demand for some of its most costly services was quickly rising.

Education and social services account for nearly three quarters of the council’s budget and it was bound by the Welsh government’s pledge to protect education spending.

The Vale’s ageing population was driving up demand for, and cost of delivering, social care, making finding savings in these areas exceptionally difficult.

In a statement on its website, the authority said: “The Vale of Glamorgan Council has no choice but to balance the books by making the savings required.

"This is going to be very challenging.

"However, we believe that the need for change also presents us with a great opportunity to change the way we work for the better.”

Plaid Cymru candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan, Cllr Ian Johnson said: “As a local councillor for the centre of Barry, I have paid great attention to the Vale council budget in recent years and the savings that they are trying to make.

“The Plaid Cymru team on the council has objected to cuts to front-line services that affect people’s everyday lives, such as the light switch off and car parking charges in Barry town centre.

“The Vale council has around £70 million sitting in the bank in the reserves, and Plaid Cymru has always argued that these should be used to protect important services, such as education and social services, rather than introducing un-necessary cuts.”