WITNEY residents will have a chance to have a say on how major cuts to budgets will be implemented.

Oxfordshire County Council will visit the town on Tuesday, September 21, to ask people how they think the cuts can be managed over the coming years.

The Government wants most departments to deliver cuts of 25 per cent between 2011 and 2015.

It is thought that more than £200m will have to be shaved off the county council’s budget up to 2015.

This figure may have to be adjusted following the Government’s comprehensive spending review in the autumn and the national Local Government Settlement Day, when each individual council will find out how much money it will be allocated.

The county council provides 80 per cent of local council services, including schools and education, the youth service, the youth offending service, children’s social care, adult social care, libraries, museums, archives, highways, the countryside service, waste disposal, some elements of planning, the fire and rescue service, emergency planning, trading standards, and the registration service.

It receives about two thirds of its funding from central Government.

The council has already been asked by central Government to make £13m of savings in 2010/11, in addition to its own savings programme.

This followed cuts to grants announced in June and July.

The council will be at Langdale Hall, in Langdale Gate, from 7.30pm to 9pm.

Keith Mitchell, leader of the county council, said: “None of us are under any illusions about the stark nature of the choices that face us here.

“We will have to cut back significantly, if not completely, on some of our services.

“The level of change will be unprecedented.

“It is important that we factor in the views of Oxfordshire residents when making these incredibly tough choices.

“We hope that people in Witney and nearby areas will come along on Tuesday, September 21, to play their part in our Big Debate.”

He added: “We have a short time-frame before we start to consider our budgets for April 2011 onwards.

“By October, we will know more about the specific detail of cuts to local government, and then in the very last part of 2010, we will hear specific detail as it relates to Oxfordshire County Council.

“All of those things will go in to the melting pot in deciding the shape of services from 2011 onwards, and the views of residents will be an important part.

“We would very much like to see and hear from people at our public meetings.

“We’re all in this together, councillors, council officers, and the general public — and that’s across the country, not just in Oxfordshire.

“If you can’t attend a meeting, please have your say at our website.”

To contribute to the debate online, visit the council’s website oxfordshire.gov.uk/bigdebate