Pontardawe Arts Centre is facing further funding cuts of £110,000 over the next two years.

A report containing proposals for Neath Port Talbot Council’s budget cuts for 2019/20 and beyond was considered by the council’s Cabinet Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet on October 31.

The proposals were for consultation only and may change if the situation improves courtesy of the Chancellor’s Budget or the Welsh Government’s final budget and local government settlement expected shortly before Christmas.

The upcoming budget could see libraries and youth clubs closing, an end of free transport for post-16 students with special educational needs as well as adults attending respite care – and a five per cent increase in council tax.

Councillor Rob Jones, Leader of the Council said: “There are some very unpalatable proposals contained in this report; but they reflect the reality of where this authority and others have been left following the publication of the Welsh Government’s draft budget and provisional local government settlement earlier this month.

“The situation is undoubtedly very difficult as I and many others in local government across Wales have consistently warned”.

The report states that the medium-term future of such facilities as Pontardawe Arts Centre and the Cefn Coed Museum are now very dependent upon bids for capital funding submitted to the Arts Council and the Welsh Government (Valleys Programme) respectively.

Discussing Pontardawe Arts Centre, Cllr Jones said: “We are looking at all our premises as best we can to get them to become more or less cost neutral.

“At art centre we have a ‘Friends of’ society and we are working with them on a business plan.

“There is a plan to establish a cinema via Arts Council for Wales grant funding.”

Also council run car parks in the three town centres are set to increase by an average of 30p from April 2019.

Cllr Jones said there would still be free parking for an hour in Pontardawe and on the seafront.

If the proposals are approved, the public consultation will begin immediately following the meeting and end on January 11, 2019.

Councillors will make the final decisions on budget cuts in February with many coming into force from April.