Home » Hundreds speak out against proposed cuts to Bridgend music service

Hundreds speak out against proposed cuts to Bridgend music service

PROPOSALS to cut funding to “essential” music services in Bridgend schools have been met with a significant number of responses from residents, according to members of a scrutiny committee.

The proposals, which are a part of Bridgend Council’s draft revenue budget for the 2025-26 financial year, could see the withdrawal of 100% of the allocated funding for music in schools if given the go-ahead by council bosses.

It is part of wider budget plans worth a total of £530 million, which were announced after a 4% increase in funding from the Welsh Government’s provisional settlement published in December, 2024.

However, with ongoing budget pressures the council has said it faces difficult choices in the coming weeks, with overall savings of around £9.1 million still needed in order to balance the books for the next year.

Speaking at a scrutiny session held on January 28, members said the removal of the allocation to the Bridgend Music Service, which is reportedly worth over £600,000, could have serious impacts on pupils, particularly those who were unable to take part in sports, and who valued the service as part of their identity.

Independent Councillor Alex Williams, of Pencoed and Penprysg, said in all his time as a member he wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen as many representations as he had to save the Bridgend Music Service, which offered children a number of life skills and a “rounded experience”.

Councillor Amanda Williams also offered her support for the service, describing the fantastic opportunity it gave to children across the borough, adding that pupils had been “in tears” and “sobbing” because they couldn’t afford music lessons and didn’t know what they would do.

Labour councillor Simon Grifiths, of Brackla East and Coychurch Lower, was previously a member of the Mid Glamorgan youth choir and orchestra and said that moving forward he would encourage the authority to look at music as being on par with sport for preparing children for the future.

He said:  “The amount of hard work that you need to be able to learn to play an instrument gives children the qualities that are essential for the rest of their life. It is very much like sport in this aspect and I recognise that sport is well funded through the authority through each individual school.”

Officers acknowledged that these were difficult proposals around a “massively valued service” however they also noted that the withdrawal didn’t necessarily mean the end of the service, and if enough schools bought in it would be able to continue.

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Councillor Martyn Jones, who is the cabinet member for education and youth services, was in attendance and said a very powerful argument had been made from councillors and in the number of emails received from the public to retain the service, noting that he would now take it to cabinet for further consideration.

The talks were set to the backdrop of potential efficiency savings against  the school delegated budgets of 1% for 2025-26, with the committee asking that cabinet to do all they can to remove this from budget saving proposals.

Those at the meeting later recommended that the proposal be deferred while they considered alternative delivery models in order for the music service to continue, with both music and counselling services “prioritised for reduction in saving, if not full removal of saving if possible, in the proposed budget for 2025-26.”

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