Protester disrupts Powys council budget talks

The meeting to discuss making up a £20 million budget in the 2014/15 budget had just got underway in Llandrindod Wells when a young man carrying a personal alarm, walked into the chamber.

He marched to the front and first lay then sat on the floor between the rows of councillors.

His entrance coincided with noisy chanting from a small group of protestors outside the chamber.

Although he at first refused to leave he was persuaded to turn down the noise from the personal alarm by members of the public.

After a 10 minute adjournment the man eventually left and police arrived to ask the group of protesters to leave. No arrests were made.

The council failed to reach a decision on its budget and adjourned the meeting until March 5 so that leaders of the various parties could have cross party talks.

There was criticism of the proposed budget by a former cabinet member, Coucillor Stephen Hayes.

He said: "It is a bad budget. There are going to have to be cuts , it is whether they are made by a skilled surgeon or someone running amok with an axe. This one had no detail and is riddled with holes."

Meanwhile, special education units in primary schools across Powys have escaped the axe during the coming year while consultation takes place over the future of help for children with additional learning needs.

The saving of the units, for at least 2014, was one of just two major decisions made by Powys County Council during a six hour budget meeting yesterday at county hall in Llandrindod Wells. The second was to scrap plans to charge £36 a day instead of the current £6 a day for those attending day centres.

During the meeting - described by councillors as an embarrassment - the council was unable to reach agreement on its budget. The cabinet had put forward a series of recommendations to make up a £19 million deficit.

The stalemate was eventually broken by Labour's Councillor Sandra Davies who proposed the decision should be adjourned until March 5 so that political group leaders could set up a cross party meeting to look at the budget again.

She said: "We need to review services to ensure that those we provide are value for money and specific, measurable affordable, realistic and timely – SMART."

Before the meeting more than 100 people had made a noisy protest at the entrance to the council headquarters.

Many were parents, children and staff from primary schools concerned about proposals to cut the budget for additional learning needs units in primary schools.

They were joined by those concerned about other cuts, from supporters of the Citizens Advice Bureau and of those worried about adult social care.

One of the parents worried about the loss of Additional Learning Units was Avril Jones, from Welshpool. She stressed the units helped many different children.

Her daughter, Lauren, 10, said: "I go to the unit for maths help. It has really helped me to cope with maths."

Newtown parent Rachael Hagger said: "This will affect all children. Some of the children that used the units would be disruptive in classes of 30 children.

All those children would be disrupted and eventually the individual child may be excluded and therefore would lose the chance of a mainstream education."

Teacher and mother Lisa Stead said there were many aspects of the eductation budget that would be cut. "

There are cuts that could be made in the council that I believe would have less of an effect than the closure of special needs units, for example."

But an 11th hour change to the cabinet's recommendation came over the lunchtime adjournment at yesterday's meeting of the council at Llandrindod Wells.

It means no cuts will be made while a review of the way those who need additional learning are given that help is completed.

Cabinet member Councillor Graham Brown said cabinet members had listened to debate all morning and were concerned that there was confusion over the reason for a review of the units.

Therefore, he said the cabinet had decided that there would be no immediate reduction in funding of the budget for the ALN units taking the proposed savings from the reserves.

Powys has been told by Welsh education inspectors, Estyn, that it has to change the way it provides Additional Learning as it was not provided in every area and had to be brought up to date.

He said the council was in consultation over its provision for those with special needs.

Cabinet member Darren Mayor successfully proposed an amendment to the recommended budget to take out a proposed £36 charge for day centre visits. However, he said the review of all day centre would still go ahead.

But other amendments failed. Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Aled Davies put forward an amended, alternative budget which included a cut in the proposed council tax increase of 3.95 per cent and taking out a planned reduction in the grant to the CAB. Although many councillors spoke up for the CAB the overall Conservative budget was defeated.

It included making savings in external consultants fees, cease Trade Union partnerships, introduce lease car insurance charges, cease the home working scheme for staff, and introduce a 10-fold limit to the differential between the lowest and highest paid staff.

He also said the changes would include the closure of the Wyeside Caravan Park in 2014 rather than 2015/16. and make other management and staff reductions.

The budget settlement meeting that will now takes place on March 5 will also include a decision on the proposal to raise council tax 3.95 per cent in April.