Council leader optimistic for 2025 despite budget concerns

Anthony Lewis, local democracy reporter

It’s easy to look at local government in Wales and across the UK and say it is in crisis.

With huge funding pressure, service changes or even cuts as councils look to balance budgets and meet the demands in areas like education and social care it can be easy to be all doom and gloom about the situation and the future.

But as we approach 2025, it is perhaps a chance to have a look at the vital role local government still plays and the positive things it can still do despite these challenging times.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) Council and Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) leader Councillor Andrew Morgan about some of the ways his council is looking to deliver for its residents in tough financial times for local authorities.

We started by talking about the recently announced provisional Welsh Government settlement for local councils.

Positive

Cllr Morgan said it was not the 0% or 1% budget the council had feared and that 10 years ago when he became leader they were faced with a 4% cut.

He said the difference between -4% and 4.7% is close to £40m adding “so the scale of the impact on local government for next year overall I think is really positive.”

He added: “It’s not the doom and gloom budget we’ve had previously. There’s still going to be a couple of tough decisions in there but nothing on the scale we’ve seen previously We’re again not going to be doing big hikes to council tax.”

He said the average increase in council tax in RCT over the last 10 years has been the lowest in Wales and they intend to be at the bottom end again this coming year.

Cllr Morgan said: “I know inflation is down but people don’t feel much better do they because it’s just that stuff isn’t increasing as fast as what it was there’s no extra money in their pockets.”

He said there has been talk of 10% increases in other areas but that they won’t be anywhere near that in RCT.

Childcare charges

He went on to mention a decision on scrapping the plan to charge for childcare before free school breakfast clubs in RCT.

He said they decided to wait to see what the outcomes of the general election and autumn budget were and because they’ve received a chunk of money they’ve been able to scrap that decision.

“Being able to reverse something like that for me is quite a positive because out of all the decisions the group had to make that’s probably one of the most difficult.”

He said while it is a breakfast club, for many it is a free or cheap way of childcare and he said the fact that they scrapped that is another positive and shows that things are not as bad as perhaps they were a couple of years ago.

“There are some positives on the horizon. We’ve still got some difficult service changes to consider and to review.”

He mentioned the decisions not to go ahead with the proposed closures of Tref y Rhyg Primary School in Tonyrefail and Trallwng Infants School in Pontypridd saying they would have had to go back out to consultation anyway because some of the data hadn’t been fully reflected in the condition survey.

He said: “I think people sometimes fear that cabinet doesn’t read any of the consultation responses but we do.”

He said after going through and reading the responses it was probably right to say no we’re not taking it forward.

Roads

Cllr Morgan went on to mention a Welsh Government announcement around £5m revenue to borrow £60m for roads which would result in around £4.5m extra for resurfacing.

He said: “Some of the basics like that do really matter to people.”

Turning to the issue of flooding that has happened recently, he said where they are making big investments they are protecting people.

He said that 15 houses were flooded through culverts that had been upgraded since Storm Dennis.

“It goes to show that that investment needs to continue.”

He said they and Welsh Government have done a huge amount since Storm Dennis but they need to accelerate that and do more.

Cllr Morgan said: “You can do all the smart and swanky stuff but realistically it’s the basics people really want.”

He also spoke about town centre regeneration and said there are eight or nine buildings in Aberdare alone that are in the process of being renovated with plans for the old Wilkinson’s building.

Cllr Morgan also said there is millions and millions going in and the amount of targeted funding they get for town centres is probably among the best.

He also spoke about business rates and how RCT gives businesses £500 off over and above what Welsh Government gives and as far as he is aware they’re the only council in Wales that does it.

He used Mountain Ash as an example and said over 72% of businesses don’t pay any rates, around 25% only pay between 25% and 50% and only around 6% pay full rates.

He said: “Unfortunately rates I think sometimes puts people off rather than actually being a reason that stops people opening shops.

“I think it’s the perception that if you have a business in town the council clobbers you with rates and in the main that’s not the case.”

Coal tips

Cllr Morgan also took some time to talk about what’s being done in relation to coal tips.

He said progress has been quite good in RCT and they’ve secured significant sums of money.

Next year they’re bidding for a substantial sum because there is a further tip they want to carry out substantial work on that is probably one of the higher risk tips.

In this financial year, the council is working on around 20 to 25 tips including surveys, installing monitoring equipment and drainage repairs.

He said the £25m from UK Government was good news and that the three year proposal put to UK Government came to around £90m with £25m in the first year.

Cllr Morgan said they’ve asked for the tip money for three years to be brought forward. and they’ve requested further support from UK Government on the back of recent flooding with the cost across Wales probably in the region of £50m from Storm Bert and Storm Darragh.

When discussing some of the investment in new care facilities, he said Porth is progressing really well after delays due to the original contractor going bust and the council having to re-tender.

Work on the facility in Mountain Ash is due to start in January or February and by March or April they could have the final design for the facility in Ferndale with construction probable starting towards the end of next year.

He said investment in care is “not negotiable. We’ve just got to push on as quickly as possible” adding a lot of currently buildings don’t comply with modern standards and were built in the 60s and 70s.

He said: “While the buildings are probably not fit for purpose, the quality of care we provide certainly in our residential care homes always comes up as second to none. They always have good inspections from CSIW.”

On schools, he said their match funding requirement for things like schools is huge so they have to have the money there before they can tender it out.

Work on the net zero Glyncoch school is starting soon and is fully funded by Welsh Government.

The council is just about finishing Llyn y Forwyn, the new Welsh school in Ferndale which is due to open in the new year.

Next they’re looking at a new 21st Century secondary school for Ysgol Cwm Rhondda at a cost of around £60m and they’re starting work on a new special school in Clydach Vale in the new year.

He also said they’re exploring options to expand special school provision in the Cynon Valley.

Cllr Morgan said they have a lot of Victorian schools and with some  they have to just invest in and modernise as much as they can but with others they take the opportunity to build new ones which sometimes means merging schools.

Disputes

In terms of major roads schemes in RCT, he said there were some delays with the A4119 and there have been some disputes with the contractor and they’re pressing them as residents are getting frustrated.

He said they’re pressing ahead as quickly as they can with the Llanharan Bypass with some redesign ongoing and they’re also looking at the Cynon Gateway which has had a postive message from Welsh Government.