AM calls for support over funding formula

Montgomeryshire AM Russell George made the claims with Powys County Council leader Rosemarie Harris in Cardiff, at a debate on local authority funding this week.

Powys has had to increase its tax by 9.5 per cent for the coming year, and the council said part of the reason is because of another low funding settlement from the government.

Mr George said: “We must begin to address the situation whereby Powys is consistently dealt a raw deal when it comes to local government funding from the Welsh Government.

“Powys has had the poorest or joint poorest budget settlement in nine of the last 10 years – an unsustainable situation which has inevitably affected the delivery of essential local services.

Population

“This year, Powys has received a cut in its funding whereas local authorities in South Wales such as Cardiff and Rhondda Cynon Taf have had increases in their funding.

“The funding formula is simply not fit for purpose any longer and doesn’t adequately reflect the fact Powys has a sparsely populated, disproportionately elderly population.”

Mr George told Assembly Members in the Senedd debate that Powys’ increasingly ageing population is going to put an even greater burden on the council’s funding.

The vote, calling on the Welsh Government to commission an independent review of the local authority funding formula, was defeated on Wednesday evening.

Mr George added: “I can appreciate the frustration of council tax payers in Powys who will end up paying more for less – but it is clear that the difficult decisions which Powys County Council has had to make are a direct result of the pressure which the Welsh Government is heaping on Powys County Council, year after year.

“It’s high time that all of Powys’ Assembly Members come out fighting for rural mid Wales and they should have voted, as I did, for an immediate independent review of the local government funding formula.”