GROWTH of demand on adult and children’s social care services are two fo the key areas where Wiltshire Council is being stretched.

The authority has an ageing population and is facing similar issue as other parts of the country, where pressure is being put on the council to dedicate money to support vulnerable people.

Despite an increase in budget from £327m last year to a proposed £332m this year, £27m of savings, including £16m of direct cuts to services, must still be made to allow for more expenditure on growth.

Discussing the draft budget papers, Cllr Phillip Whitehead said: “Every year our budget increases by around £10m. Our problem isn’t budget, our problem is growth and controlling and satisfying the growth in the future. That is the challenge.

“Growth isn’t just about more people coming into the county. For example inflation alone costs on our contracts costs an extra £3m so it is not just demographic where we have growth, we have growth all over.”

The draft budget is due to be debated and voted on on February 26.