FLINTSHIRE Council could be forced to make savings of more than £15 million after being hit hard by funding cuts from the Welsh Government.

The authority was one of the worst affected by the provisional funding announcement from Cardiff last month, with a reduction of one per cent.

It will now need to make cuts of around £15.6 million during the 2019/20 financial year unless more money is forthcoming.

The figure was revealed at a special scrutiny committee meeting at County Hall in Mold, where savings earmarked for two arm’s length companies were set out. Aura Leisure and Libraries and Newydd Catering and Cleaning are expected to make collective savings of approximately £400,000.

Highlighting cuts already made across the department, the council’s chief officer for housing and assets, Neal Cockerton said: “I think it’s an awful lot of money in terms of efficiencies.

“It’s an awful lot of money and baring in mind that unlike other authorities we haven’t closed those facilities, we’ve grown them.”

The previous mooted figure in order to help plug the gap was £13.7m, but that has now gone up following the announcement by Welsh Government local government cabinet secretary Alun Davies.

Mr Davies has been slammed by politicians in Flintshire after he compared councils complaining about funding to Oliver Twist.

At Friday’s meeting, council officer Rachael Corbelli said the two companies being discussed had a starting budget of £6.3m and had made savings of over £2m.

However, she warned that making further cuts could severely impact on their viability.

She said: “What we don’t want is to destabilise those companies as they’re running really well at the moment.

“In terms of any further reductions from ourselves, we need to be very careful about that.

“With the local settlement, I know you’re all very aware it wasn’t great news for Flintshire and we’re looking at a £15.6m gap.”

Lobbying by local authorities to the Welsh Government for more money is ongoing.

The final budget settlement will be announced in December.