Over 2,700 pledge support to ‘Save Wrexham Music Service’ petition

Over 2,700* people have pledged their support to a petition calling on Wrexham Council to rethink plans to cut its funding to the Wrexham Music Service.

The petition was launched last week after a council report revealed that cutting funding to the music service would feature as part of the upcoming ‘Difficult Decisions’ consultation.

Currently Wrexham Council provides a music service to schools which :includes peripatetic instrument tuition (i.e. tutors visiting different schools), facilitating orchestras and youth choirs to a number of pupils.”

However as this service is not a legal requirement, Wrexham Council are proposing the funding is withdrawn to help meet an estimated budget shortfall of around £13m over the next two years.

It is anticipated the cuts to the service could generate savings of approximately £300,000 in 2019/20.

The proposal has generated a strong response from the public and local politicians, who have called on Wrexham Council to reconsider the proposals.

At the time of writing over 1,500 people have signed a “Save Wrexham Music Service” petition, which smashed its initial target of 1000 signatures within 24 hours.

The petition is now just over 300 short of hitting its new target of 2000.

Cutting the school music service funding is one of several proposals to feature in Wrexham Council’s ‘Difficult Decisions’ consultation, which will ask members of the public how they will help save £13 million over the next two years.

The consultations often generate anything between a few hundred to just over 1000 responses, so if there is something you disagree with, make sure this year you have your say. Facebook comments and tweets do not count!

The proposals will be debated by the Executive Board at 10am on Tuesday 24th October. For those who can’t attend the meeting it will be webcast online. It is anticipated that the ‘Difficult Decisions’ consultation will launch on October 25th after Executive Board approval.

Of course we will be signposting to the consultation and encouraging as many people as possible to get involved when it’s up and running!

*Note – at the time of writing this article on Sunday evening the petition had over 1,600 supporters. As of Monday at 9:15pm it is just 250 short of 3,000!