Newport budget proposals – a reflection of the major challenges facing local authorities

Newport City Council’s cabinet will next week consider how it will change the services it provides in the face of a major financial challenge.

With a budget gap of £27.6 million, there will be many difficult decisions to be made.

Last month, Councillor Jane Mudd, Leader of the council set out the scale of the challenge in a video address (https://youtu.be/Fp8gLuQmhWE) and since then, the authority has been looking at every option to limit the impact of the inevitable changes on the people of Newport.

At the meeting on Wednesday 14 December, 29 proposals will be considered in detail before the cabinet agrees which will go out for public consultation.

The consultation will then run until February 2, 2023. All representations will be considered when cabinet meet again on February 14 when they will make their final recommendations on the overall budget for 2023/24.

A summary of the draft proposals being considered can be read here.

Councillor Mudd said: “Reflecting on the amount of money available and how that can realistically be prioritised to deliver our most important services has been an extremely difficult process – the sums simply don’t add up.

“The cost of providing services is going up in the same way that everyone’s cost of living has risen. And at the same time, more people are accessing those services, increasing demand.

“Several additional factors including the failure to provide Wales with a fair funding settlement and the ending of energy support by the UK Government has only made the situation worse.

“And this comes not long after many years of austerity when we faced real-term budget cuts. Newport City Council has already implemented over £90m of savings since 2011 so there are few choices left.

“Added to that, two thirds of the council’s budget is spent on schools, education and social care – the absolutely essential services, where savings are very difficult to make.

“But I want to reassure everyone that the challenges being faced by residents, businesses and individuals will always be at the forefront of the council’s considerations.”

The money raised through council tax accounts for less than one quarter of the council’s overall budget. The majority of funding comes from a Welsh Government Grant.

For every one per cent the council tax is increased by, an additional £650,000 is raised.

Councillor Mudd added: “With a funding gap of £27.6 million pounds, the council must consider raising council tax to create more income. This is done with the full appreciation that this a major bill for households at an already challenging time. We have had one of the lowest rates of council tax in Wales for a very long time and even if we do raise it at a level higher than we would wish, we are very likely to still compare favourably to our neighbouring areas.”

Within the draft proposals being considered by cabinet is a 9.5 per cent council tax increase.

The majority of Newport households fall in the bands A to C, so this represents an increase of between £1.55 and £2.07 per week.

The cabinet meeting on Wednesday 14 December will be broadcast on the council’s website. The public consultation will be launched following the meeting at www.newport.gov.uk/haveyoursay

For more information about the council’s budget, how we spend our money and the budget setting process, visit www.newport.gov.uk/budget