I usually bring a positive message in my political column, but as a result of the Welsh Government announcement earlier this month of yet another very tough local funding settlement for Powys County Council, I’m afraid my column on this occasion is somber.
At 4.4%, Powys will receive the second largest budget cut of all the 22 Welsh local authorities for the 2015-16 financial year, compared with a Wales average of 3.4%.
When the Welsh Government brings its proposed budget before the National Assembly for Wales, I shall be voting against. To support such a budget, to me, would mean supporting a grossly unfair settlement for the people of Powys. The Welsh Government continues to ignore the needs of rural mid Wales. Any Assembly Member that does not vote against this budget, can not then criticise the difficult decisions that our council has to make with another huge cut in its budget inflicted on it.
Sadly, we know that the proposed budget will be approved, as despite the Labour party in Wales not having a full majority in the Assembly, a “Budget deal” that has been worked up with the Welsh Liberal Democrats means that Powys will yet again get a raw deal.
After such a poor deal for the last eight years, Powys now has to find a further £7.7 million worth of savings, in addition to the £70 million it needs to find by 2020. In the next financial year alone, it has to find savings of £16 million.
Powys County Council has already made a number of difficult decisions, but prioritisation and tough choices from the Council leadership will have to continue, and it will mean front-line services changing from what they are now, or disappearing completely.
The Leader of Powys County Council has already said that the authority is facing extreme budgetary pressure and has warned that voluntary and community groups may need to provide services traditionally provided by the Council, with libraries and leisure centres likely to be first in the firing line.
Finding further efficiency savings within the council must be prioritised, wasteful spending must be rooted out and services must be delivered in more imaginative ways. There has in fairness been much work in this regard over recent years, but it’s my view that more can and must be done.
It is clearly high time that the Welsh Government reforms the formula which it uses to decide how much each council receives. The current system is grossly unfair, and provides Labour-led councils in urban south Wales with far more attractive financial settlements while the largest, most rural councils of Powys, Ceredigion, Monmouthshire and Pembrokeshire are among those with the worst cash settlement.
This needs to change and I and other rural AMs have consistently called for wholesale reform of the local government funding formula. It is clear that the current formula is fundamentally flawed as it doesn’t properly take into account the challenges of delivering vital public services over large rural areas of Mid Wales.
It is my view that the rural Councils in Wales which are so badly hit year after year, need to work much more closely together, to form a united voice to Welsh Government, that the unfairness can not carry on.
The Welsh Government’s budget is bad for Powys residents. We in Powys deserve much better, and it saddens me that the Welsh Labour party and Lib Dem politicians will vote this budget through.