THE cost of Meals on Wheels may rise and children in care could wait longer to be adopted, if money-saving measures within Torfaen Council go ahead.

The Congress Theatre, Llantarnam Grange, Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall and Pontypool Museum could see grants slashed by up to 20 per cent, while the mobile library service could be stopped, school crossing patrols reduced, roadside bus timetables axed and the cost of cemetery plots rise.

The proposals are part of radical plans by Torfaen Council to slash £11.2 million from its 2014/15 budget, part of a large plan to save £40 million in the next four years. A rise in council tax – of an as yet unspecified amount – is also being considered.

A joint meeting of all council scrutiny committees will consider draft savings proposals on November 20, six days before the cabinet enter into a two-month period of “consideration” over the plans.

On January 21 next yearthe cabinet plans to recommend the budget to all members, pertaining to the outcome of consultation and scrutiny, before the council makes its final decision on March 4, 2014.

The largest saving will have to come from the social care department, which was asked to find ways to make up a £3.1 million gap in its current budget.

The department was spared the task of finding a further 4 per cent saving, required of other services.

The education service has proposed cutting its contribution to the jointly-run schools library service, music service and outdoor education service by 15 per cent, saving £60,000, axing the Civic Centre’s catering facility to save £24,000 and leaving posts unfilled for at least one month, saving £75,000.

In social care, community meals may rise by 20p – an extra £1.40 a week for some users – but saving the service £10,000. Raising the eligibility criteria for those receivingsocial care recipients to “critical” and “substantial”, and referring others to voluntary organisations, could save £200,000, and reducing respite nights could save £20,000. Managing demand by making people wait longer could also save £120,000.

Capping care packages, meaning more people with complex needs moving into care homes once their care package became unaffordable, could save £300,000, while cutting independent work or therapy for children in need and only adopting children outside South East Wales as a last resort, could save £110,000 altogether. The council must also find cash to pay for a £100,000 to fix a backlog of potholes. and proposes to divert tourism money away from promoting the whole of Torfaen and focus on the World Heritage Site.