Cabinet members in Newport yesterday defended their consultation on budget cuts - saying they were not going to be philistines about the city's heritage. BECKY CARR reports.

NEWPORT council leaders insist they have “no intention of being philistines” after concerns have been raised about potential cuts to the city’s cultural services.

Cabinet members yesterday unanimously agreed to put more than 100 money-saving ideas in the 2015/16 budget proposals out to public consultation.

The ideas, which look to save £10 million next year, include a possible closure of both the Newport Museum and Art Gallery, while retaining the service, and Central Library, as well as raising council tax by five per cent.

The council was told in October that it will receive a cut of 2.6 per cent in its annual grant from the Welsh Government, which provides 80 per cent of the council’s revenue, reducing it to £210million.

A council spokeswoman insisted the authority council is not proposing to close the museum service, but is looking to “deliver and display it in new locations,” with full public access.

The council could also develop a programme of pop-up displays and exhibitions in other locations, such as housing the art gallery at The Riverfront theatre.

Despite this, the Friends of Newport Museum and Art Gallery (FoNMAG) have already started a petition against the proposal, which yesterday had gathered 618 signatures.

Council leader Bob Bright said he was saddened that campaigns were being launched by people with “vested interests” when the council was still consulting on the budget proposals.

He added: “The city council is in a difficult situation, we’ll do the very best we can for the people of Newport.

“There’s no intention of us being philistines. We need to think constructively and laterally about how this is going to carry on.

“We welcome constructive criticisms, constructive ideas, but not ideas on the council being hell-bent on destroying Newport.

“We need to move forward and actively resolve some of these problems.”

Councillor Bob Poole, cabinet member for licensing and statutory functions, said he found it “offensive” that councillors were being called philistines.

“It’s not of our making,” he added. “We’ve got to do the best job we can.”

Councillor Debbie Wilcox, cabinet member for education and young people, agreed that the council has to “carry out the forcing of the public service cuts”.

On the proposal to move the museum’s collections, Cllr Poole added: “We will make sure all the artefacts are protected.”

Later on at yesterday’s meeting, while speaking on the housing loan scheme and the long-term outlook of Newport, Cllr Bright added: “We now need to think about providing the future citizens with high-quality jobs, with good disposable incomes, so they can travel to the National Gallery and they can go to the ballet.”

The budget proposals also include a library services review, which looks to save £420,000 by retaining four of the city’s libraries as ‘hubs’.

The closure of the Central Library, which needs an estimated £2.5million of repairs, has been highlighted as the way to maximise savings.

A council spokeswoman said: “Central Library has seen visitor numbers reduce by 31 per cent in the last two financial years and visitor numbers continue to decline.

“The central library building also has a backlog of maintenance work required, totalling more than £2million. Moving to four hubs would save the council £210,000 in 2015/16 and the same amount in 2016/17.”

Other proposals include saving £49,000 by reducing the cabinet size by one and getting rid of an unallocated cabinet special responsibility allowance as well as unclaimed travel allowances.