Council eyes public toilet and bowling green closures

Some public toilets and bowling greens look set to be closed as part of a Welsh council’s early budget cuts worth more than £10m.

As part of what Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) council calls its early budget reduction measures, it has identified £7.32m worth of cuts including £160,000 in what it calls “operational service reconfiguration.”

These include £28,000 from the closure of bowling greens at Abercynon, Aberpennar, Hirwaun and Wattstown which have been identified as not being in use for a sustained period and/or with no planned use and it will see the end of associated maintenance.

And £132,000 would come from the removal of four automatic public conveniences at Berw Road in Tonypandy, Waunrhydd Road inTonyrefail, Rose Terrace in Llanharan and Station Road car park in Abercynon.

Energy efficiency

The council is also looking to save money through general efficiency measures such as £3.38m through cost reduction and additional income, £1.63m through non pay budget freeze and efficiency, £1.74m through recharge of costs and use of external funding and £397,000 through service restructuring and vacancy management.

Along with the updated levels of council tax premiums, home to school transport changes and the standardisation of the council’s waste management and collection arrangements, the budget gap is reduced by a further £2.88m.

A review of the senior management structure within legal and democratic services also saves the council £70,000.

The cabinet report for Wednesday, November 20, says this all adds up to £10.28m.

Budget gap

Based on no increase in funding for 2025/2026 from Welsh Government (cash flat), the council is looking at a £35.75m budget gap.

And based on a 1% increase in the two following years, the council is looking at a gap of £29.9m in 2026/2027 and a £26.19m gap in 2027/2028.

This would result in a cumulative budget gap over those three years of £91.84m.

The provisional Welsh Government funding settlement for next year is expected on December 10.