Cuts to services in order to balance the budget next year have not been ruled out by Swindon Borough Council.   

This comes after the rise in inflation has caused fears of cuts to non-statutory services, which are those councils do not legally have to provide.

These include hardship funds for families, homelessness prevention funds, leisure centres, swimming pools, parks and museums, according to the District Councils’ Network.

However, there are not many non-statutory services left to cut as things like leisure centres have already been handed over to private providers leaving questions about what other services the council will have to cut.

Council Leader, David Renard, gave no assurance that there would not be cuts - and said his authority would have "some really tough decisions" to make.

He said: “The rising cost of inflation and the significant demand on our adults and children’s services means that the challenges facing local government finances have never been greater.

“It is inevitable that all councils will need to make some really tough decisions and we will be no different. We are currently working through proposals to ensure we continue to balance our budget and we will announce these in due course.”

Local councils must balance their budgets by law.

Labour Councillor, Paul Dixon, agreed with Cllr Renard.

He said: “He’s right. I’m very worried about some of the announcements coming from Liz Truss and the government when they’re saying that we’ll have to cut back on funding."

But he said Labour run parish councils were doing their best to pick up the pieces:

“Labour run parish councils in the centre of Swindon are doing a lot to support the community. They’re setting up youth clubs that the council has neglected to do over a number of years.

"They’re putting investments into the parks and things like street cleaning as well.

"Parish councils can raise extra funds through the precepts so we’ve got an opportunity there but the councils have got to focus on statutory essentials services, like social care.

"We can’t neglect the most needy in our community."

Councils have a limited number of ways of increasing income to help balance budgets without cutting spending.

Council tax is a big income source but is capped at two per cent, however there has been talk of raising the cap according to Wiltshire Council leader, Richard Clewer.

The only other way they can raise money is by increasing car parking fees or planning application fees, but few expect that would cover the spending gap.