Budget scrutiny group submits report with ‘significant’ cuts predicted

Lewis Smith, local democracy reporter

A cross-party scrutiny group has given a series of recommendations to senior councillors ahead of their annual budget setting process which could see “significant” cuts.

The group was put together in April 2025 in order to assist Bridgend County Borough Council’s cabinet  members and officers with the development of their draft budget proposals for the 2026-27 financial year.

They were given to members by Cllr Alex Williams at a cabinet meeting held in December 2025 ahead of this year’s process where some “difficult decisions” are expected.

The meeting came after a report from the authority in October, which said it was facing a potential £5m worth of cuts in order to set a balanced budget in February 2026 for the coming year.

Speaking at the meeting Cllr Williams said a group of 24 members from the authority had met over an eight-month period to carry out four deep-dive sessions.

Recommendations from these sessions included carrying out a full review of how the council’s directorates are structured and how they work with an additional review of how council buildings are being used and what assets could be released.

The group also discussed the provision of CCTV in the borough with proposals to ask the police to contribute financially to the service as they are the biggest users.

Additionally they recommended considering an above-inflationary rise in all fees and charges that are not set by other bodies while taking a more robust approach to the enforcement of fly-tipping, overrunning road works, and parking infractions.

As part of the talks the group also noted a number of concerns including the number of schools that are predicting deficit budgets with suggestions made to review the recurring 1% reduction to schools’ delegated budgets.

When it came to the capital budget they felt there was a fractured and “piecemeal” approach to one-off spending on new projects which needed to be more focused and driven by the needs of services.

They also discussed the potential for the council to be “more aggressive” in the housing market taking more HMOs under their ownership and potentially building more council housing.

Recommendations

Cllr Hywel Williams who is cabinet member for finance and performance thanked members for their work, saying: “We will certainly sit down, put our heads together, and we’ll come back with some detailed responses and recommendations to the report.”

The council’s leader John Spanswick added the group had already brought value in confirming they were heading in the right direction in a number of areas.

The budget setting process for the 2026-27 financial year will now continue ahead of the final budget which will be set in February 2026.