Shropshire Council cuts: Five months to save leisure centres, swimming pools, libraries, museums and parks

Shropshire Council's cabinet is set to consider a proposal that will give town and parish councils and community groups five months to come forward and sign agreements for the services.

Services which face seeing their funding cut from 2017/18 include, arts, tourism, museums, youth activities, leisure centres, swimming pools, large libraries, public open spaces and some bus routes.

If no deal can be secured then the authority will consider closing the service by April 1, 2017.

Those affected include Shrewsbury Museum and Acton Scott Working Farm, as well as Ludlow Museum and Resource Centre, and Much Wenlock Museum.

Leisure centres across the county could also be affected, including those at Market Drayton, Much Wenlock, Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Oswestry, Church Stretton, Bridgnorth, Ellesmere, Wem and Whitchurch.

Cabinet members will discuss the issue on Wednesday.

The council has also revealed that it wants to trial a system which will consider how to provide some grounds maintenance currently provided by contractor Ringway, when its contract expires in 2018.

A cabinet report from Councillor George Candler, the authority's director of commissioning, said that work on the discussions need to be completed urgently.

It states: "The timeline for this activity is challenging and so formal discussions with town and parish councils and other potential partners should begin as soon as possible – indeed some informal discussions have already started such is the urgency around this work.

"These discussions will either have created firm new management or funding plans, or not, by September 2016 to allow the necessary arrangements relating to either scenario to be enacted in time for 2017/18. If a way forward is not established by then, Shropshire Council will consider decommissioning the service subject to full consultation and for the service to cease on April 1, 2017."

Council leader Malcolm Pate said the timescale has been driven by the authority's financial position and its need to agree a balanced budget.

The authority is projected to have a funding shortfall of £61 million by 2018/19, leaving all non-statutory services at risk.

Councillor Pate said: "The timescale is being driven by financial necessity. We have a budget fixed for two years and if the Government does not come up with more cash that is the budget we have to go with.

"The time scale is fixed by us having to take decisions in time to meet our budgetary requirements."

Councillor Pate said the only way the authority can maintain the services is if the Government provides more funding.

He said: "A lot of this stuff is stuff we do not want to do. No one here wants to go through that process but unless we can convince Greg Clark when he comes to visit us to make more money available that is what has to happen."