Wiltshire County Council has pledged that services such as education, roads and social services will not be cut if it has its budget capped by the Government.

But a number of smaller, lower-profile projects could see grants slashed to save money. These include:

Parish Lengthsman Scheme: Three times a year the team of workmen visit every parish in the county to undertake cleaning and maintenance work in the villages. A schedule of dates is sent out to parish councils, who can request specific jobs to be done. This could include clearing drains and cleaning signs.

If the scheme was scrapped it would save £509,000 from the budget.

Reduction in Arts Grant Award: One of the service savings proposed is a major cut in the arts grants made available to organisations across the county. The proposed cut would reduce money for arts by two thirds and save £129,000.

This could hit hard groups currently receiving grants, such as Salisbury Playhouse and Corsham Festival. Nicholas Keyworth, director of Corsham Festival said: "Any reduction in the support given at county level is likely to have

a detrimental

effect on the festival's development and could have a knock-on effect on the level of funding we can attract from elsewhere."

Royal United Hospital Hopper: The hopper bus costs £100,000 and provides transport to the hospital. The service is provided on request and serves the towns of West Wiltshire as well as Box and Corsham. It transports

between 1,100 and 1,200 passengers a month. The Hopper transports anyone needing to go to the hospital whether

patients, staff or visitors. Fares cost between £4 and £8.50 depending on the distance travelled and concessions are available.

Assisted Places Scheme for young people: Scrapping the scheme would save £32,000. Through the assisted places scheme money is made available to children in needy homes to help them attend residential school trips. This year 372 primary and 143 secondary pupils have received help through the scheme, which pays for the whole visit, with the exception of transport to and from the centre and additional trips out during the visit, arranged by the school. In 2004 the money previously centrally held to support this scheme was passed to schools to determine the subsidy for individual visits.

Evening and Sunday bus services: A saving of £250,000 could be made if the county council's subsidies on evening and Sunday services were scrapped. A total of 17 bus routes would be affected, with a loss of 255,000 passenger journeys each year.