THE SPOTLIGHT will be on Tavistock next month when local residents will be urged to make their voices heard at a public meeting to discuss tough spending choices in the county.

Tavistock is one of 17 market towns throughout Devon where 'Tough Choices' public meetings will be held — and county councillor for the town Debo Sellis is making a plea for people to stand up and be counted.

Councillors are likely to have to save £40-million from their spending next year, following the £54.6-million reductions they made this year.

More than £10-million will be found by cutting management, administrative costs and back office expenditure.

But around £30-million will still need to be found from local services — a reduction of 7%.

Last year the Tough Choices spending consultation attracted thousands of responses, making it the biggest such exercise staged by the authority.

Cllr Sellis said: 'I am a firm believer in democracy and having a local voice and this is an opportunity to talk to the leader of the council and say what you think. If anyone has any burning issue please come along to the meeting. You will be listened to.'

Almost 1,000 people attended the 15 public meetings in market towns across the county last year.

Leader of the council John Hart will also be reporting back on how the council responded to the thousands of suggestions from last year's meetings in a new feature called You Said:We Did.

Mr Hart said: 'In the current financial year we had to cut £54-million from the county council's budget.

'We face similar constraints this year and we want everyone to have the opportunity to join the debate. The views, ideas and opinions of our residents matter, which is why I will be reporting back to them on how we acted on their suggestions.'

Last year the top public priorities for continued or additional funding were protecting children from abuse, home care for the elderly, support for people who care for others and supporting children with special needs.

In response, the county council approved a small cash increase in social care budgets and created a new, free service offering short-term support to those in need.

There were no cash cuts to children's safeguarding and the children in care budgets. An innovative multi-agency safeguarding hub was established in Devon to ensure everyone who works with children cooperates and shares information and all 43 children's centres were kept open.

Those services most identified for savings were street lighting, tourism promotion and public transport subsidies.

A common theme was that savings needed to be made on Devon's home to school transport bill which exceeds £20-million.

As a result, 18,000 street lights were converted to part-night lighting, saving thousands of pounds in fuel costs and 300 tonnes of CO2.

The county's support for buses was reduced by £1.3-million and support for bus services carrying pupils who were not entitled to free transport was withdrawn.

This year the county council has streamlined its administration by merging departments. The authority's jobs freeze has resulted in 1,465 fewer posts within the county council since the action started in November 2009.

Councillors' allowances continue to be frozen and savings of £100,000 have been made since 2009 by streamlining the political administration of the authority.

A community fund has been set up and local county councillors now have access to more cash to support projects in their localities. District councils have been invited to join in next year.

The total cost of the Tough Choices exercise will be less than £5,000, funded from an existing budget for public consultation.

The Tavistock Tough Choices meeting will take place in the town hall at 6.30pm on Tuesday November 8. All are welcome.