Plans to have parents pay for their children’s music lessons in Conwy have overcome a big hurdle.

Councillors at yesterday’s meeting of the county’s education scrutiny committee voted in favour of taking the delegated budget for the lessons from schools.

Schools in the county will lose the £327,000 delegated budget for music lessons which will save the county £266,000 a year.

The meeting  heard there is a need for savings to be made in the education budget.

It was also felt that the current system needs changing that saw a uniform approach to payments instead of the ad-hoc system in place now.

If the proposed changes are given the go-ahead by the council’s cabinet it will mean children who get free school meals will get free tuition while parents for other pupils will have to pay.

But Glyn county councillor, Chris Hughes, feared this would see some kids miss out.

He said: “What’s more important? Music, English, Welsh, maths? I think they are all equally as important. Music has an enormous role to play, as a big part of our economy and our culture and as part of the education of our young people. “We have significant numbers of young people with learning difficulties, music gets many of those into learning.”

The cabinet member responsible for education, Julie Fallon, argued that the changes might be difficult but the saving was worth making.

She said: “I get where Chris is coming from, as a mum of three, my daughter learned to play guitar in school, music is a very important part of my life. That being said we are in a situation where financially we have to look at every area and if you look at this in context if we turn down an opportunity to make some savings here then where are we going to find them because we’re going to have to find them somewhere and what comes forward might be an even harder pill to swallow.

“The service is saved because we could have been sat here cutting it altogether, this means it will still be there and those with free school meals will have the chance to access it. It means it’s sustainable, currently the way it is there is a real range in what students are paying, this is fair, it means that all students are paying the same amount.”

Cllr Hughes added: “We have already heard in earlier debates that you will protect people on free school meals but you don’t know what the criteria is going to be around free school meals in the future. Last year free home to school transport was cut, who does it effect, those who are just about managing and who does this effect, it’s those who are just about managing.”