MONMOUTHSHIRE can expect to see further cuts to public services in the next few years. The Welsh Government has called on all local authorities in Wales to respond to budget reductions of 4.5 per cent after announcing more pressures and "significant demands" facing the Welsh NHS. It is anticipated that Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) needs to find a further £14.5 million of savings over the next four years. Joy Robson, head of finance at MCC, said all service areas of the council needed to work together in managing the financial gap. She said: "The scale of this challenge in terms of the capacity of the organisation to deliver and the difficult choices that may have to be made cannot be underestimated." In a letter from the minister of local government and government business, Lesley Griffiths AM, she cites significant pressures on the Assembly's budget particularly in relation to the NHS in Wales as the reason for more cuts. She said: "The current published indicative plans for 2015/16 see a reduction of 1.5 per cent compared to 2014/15. There remains a possibility further reductions may be required and I would suggest you consider how you would respond to reductions of up to 4.5 per cent. "The UK Government has provided a broad envelope for likely spending over future financial years and from this there is a clear indication the scale of reductions we have faced since 2010/11 will continue over the next spending review period. "In this context, it would be prudent for you to assume current trends in local government funding will continue and you should scenario plan for a range of challenging settlements beyond 2015/16." Councillor Phil Murphy, cabinet member with responsibility for finance, said: "Cabinet will broadly consider the financial outlook for local government services in the county in the next three years, especially in light of reduced financial settlements from Welsh Government, and look to agree the process for developing the budget for next year. "Much work lies before us however and to aid us in our decision making we will run community engagement sessions as we did successfully last year." "These will start in Monmouth on the evening of Monday 29th September before moving on to Caldicot, Abergavenny, Usk and Chepstow and will be preceded by daytime roadshows from Friday 19th September to Thursday 25th September in our five towns. "We will ask our communities what they value about the areas they live in and we aim to capture as much information as possible to inform us before agreeing a budget next February." Cabinet will meet today (3rd September) to discuss the medium term financial plan.