SOMERSET County Council will not make a 90 per cent funding cut to the Quantock Hills AONB service, district councillors have been reassured. Chris Edwards, the manager of the hills' AONB service, said he had been told there had been a "misunderstanding" and the county authority had never planned to make such a drastic cut. Speaking at last Thursday's West Somerset Council scrutiny committee meeting, Mr Edwards said the next step would be for the service to find savings rather than simply having to accommodate funding reductions once made. He told the committee: "Cllr David Hall [Somerset County Council's cabinet member for business, inward investment and policy] felt there had been some misunderstanding as to what had been proposed and said it was never his intention to reduce AONB funding by nearly 90 per cent. "He said he never wanted to put the AONB at risk but had wanted to find other ways of funding. "Everyone is looking at savings, but there is a commitment there to some extent. "I'm sure there is some sort of sustainable future there and we will be having a meeting in the near future to see if there are savings we can offer." County council officers suggested last year that the authority could save money but cutting grants to AONBs. Although it was not a firm proposal, the idea of reducing funding by up to 90 per cent in the next financial year attracted a storm of protests. If implemented, it would have meant the Quantocks AONB lost £21,000 from the county authority, but that would prevent it drawing down another £60,000 from Defra. Defra gives the hills service 75 per cent of what it receives from elsewhere and that money is used to employ a small team dedicated to attracting additional external funding. Mr Edwards told scrutiny members the idea of a 90 per cent cut was a reflection of what county council officers believed was a fair representation of the authority's input into the hills' management plan. He said the service had already been affected by funding cuts from local councils and was already unable to pay for projects without attracting external cash. Thousands of man-hours were carried out by unpaid volunteers and the only real way of saving any more money would be to cut staff or their working hours. Cllr Anthony Trollope-Bellew said it was vital the service was able to retain its wardens and praised the work carried out by the team. Mr Edwards said he was looking into a number of options to try and make future funding more secure, including the possibility of setting up a Quantock Fund to enable the AONB to benefit from legacies and charity fundraising. He said money secured for the service by West Somerset Council to offset the impact of the planned Hinkley Point C project would go some way to help, but said the cash was tightly ring-fenced and could only be used for landscape management. "Reductions in funding is the way things are at the moment. "It's taken us to a point where we no longer have any project funding from our core budgets. "We have to go to external funding to deliver projects other than those done with volunteers," Mr Edwards said. Five years ago, West Somerset Council gave the service an annual grant of £21,500. That has dropped to £9,957. Similarly, Somerset County Council gave £34,500 in 2009/10 but in 2014/15 gave £21,500, while Sedgemoor District Council has gone from £17,554 to £11,500 and Taunton Deane Borough Council from £16,500 to £10,000. In his presentation to the district council, Mr Edwards said staff had been grateful for the support given to them when it was feared the county council could inflict a 90 per cent cut next year. He said 50 letters of support had been sent to the county authority highlighting the economic, social and environmental benefits of AONBs and their ability to lever in additional money. County council chiefs met representatives from Somerset's AONBs last month over the future funding of the services. The council said the meeting had been arranged to discuss how partners could work together to deliver services and described it as "productive". Mr Edwards said: "Cllr Hall was clear during the meeting that it had never been the council's intention to allow this level of cut to their contribution to go ahead. "Nevertheless, the county council is still looking to make savings in the long term and, therefore, it was agreed that the council would work with the AONBs to find replacement funding and that it was hoped that future reductions in contribution could be carried out once this replacement funding was secured." And he added: "AONB staff and partnerships have been inspired and grateful to see the level of support shown to AONBs and their teams through this challenging process and wish to offer our thanks to all of those involved. "Particular thanks must go to the Friends of Quantock organisation and their chairman Alan Hughes who spearheaded the support."