Council tax rise and school budget cuts confirmed in Flintshire

Alec Doyle – Local democracy reporter

Council tax in Flintshire will increase by 9.5% next year – as school budgets are cut.

Those key decisions mean that for people in Band D properties in Flintshire council tax will rise by £157 per year, while schools will receive £2.9m less.

It underlined the stark financial position Flintshire County Council finds itself in after years of receiving some of the lowest financial settlements in Wales.

There was some positive news, as social care received an additional £11 million – a 12% increase – amid concerns over increasing numbers of elderly and vulnerable people and children receiving support.

In December Flintshire was given the fourth-lowest settlement of Wales’ 22 local authorities. Last week, after campaigning alongside other local councils, the Welsh Local Government Association and Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds MS, the Senedd introduced a funding floor which increased Flintshire’s funding settlement by £1.2 million.

But the council is still projected to record a £23 million deficit in 2025/26 and projections show that for 2026/27 and 2027/28 it will have a £19 million funding gap each year.

“It was a very difficult budget,” said Flintshire council leader Dave Hughes. “There were things there that tore at the heartstrings.

“But the budget is the budget. The money we’ve had from the Welsh Government isn’t enough, we’re the third lowest funded council in Wales and those decisions have to be made.

“As councillors we have to make decisions that we sometimes don’t like.”

Cuts

In a tense council chamber there were passionate arguments both against the cuts and in favour of the budget as councillors tried to balance maintaining services and affordability.

“This budget is not about numbers, it’s about people,” said Cabinet Member for Finance and Social Value Cllr Paul Johnson.

“I represent a ward which has high degrees of poverty. That poverty is increasing and I’m not going to walk away from them.

“We have people who are on the edge, people who need access to social services. We are in a dreadful position.

“None of us will leave this chamber with any satisfaction after what we have had to do.”

“I’m standing here, I’m going to take responsibility for this decision and I hope the rest of the council will do the same.”

Hanging over the meeting was the prospect of bankruptcy. Had Flintshire councillors failed to deliver a legal and balanced budget they would have been placed under a Section 114 order.

That would force elected members to work with external monitors to balance the books by making deeper cuts and bringing in significantly higher tax increases.

Opponents argued that the authority could have made different decisions on the council tax increase and funding cuts.

Botched

“Flintshire schools already receive less per child than almost every other Welsh authority,” said Lib Dem group leader Cllr Andrew Parkhurst.

“This is just not acceptable, particularly at a time when many families are struggling financially and when they see money still being wasted.

“From the £1,800 spend on external legal fees to justify the botched dogs ban in Mold’s Ornamental Gardens to the colossal £800,000 taken from contingency reserves spent on cleaning up illegally dumped waste on the council’s own land.”

Cllr Parkhurst’s proposal to invest Flintshire’s additional £1.2m in reducing council tax by £8.29 per week (based on Band D), putting around £600,000 back into the schools budget and investing in keeping public toilets at Mold, Holywell and Talacre open did not survive a vote.

But that didn’t stop other members criticising the budget proposals.

“The coalition administration have a duty to residents of Flintshire to do everything possible to reduce the impact on them financially, and you have failed in that task,” said independent councillor Andy Hughes.

“You have once again put the burden firmly at the doorstep of our residents while blaming everyone else. Schools budgets cut, streetscene cut, transport cut. Cut after cut after cut and service levels have dropped.

“Yet you’ve increased council spend by over £40,000 with cabinet expansion. I really hope the residents of Flintshire hear this and hold the coalition to account.”

Cllr Carol Ellis of the True Independents group also argued that the increasing costs should not fall to Flintshire taxpayers.

“It’s just a bad situation,” she said. “We seem forever to be passing on the costs to the residents.

“On education this is the third cut. Already staff are having to step outside their expertise to teach in other subject areas, staff have been lost in high schools and primary schools.”

Budgets

And True Independents leader Cllr Dave Mackie highlighted that after the cuts Flintshire will offer one of the lowest spends-per-pupil in Wales.

“Can the schools cope with another cut? Schools tell us not. I have a list of delegated school budgets.

“Flintshire is third bottom of the list. Bridgend is just behind Flintshire. The 2.5% cut will put us behind Bridgend. We will then be next to bottom.”

There was one potential sliver of hope for schools following a late recommendation from deputy leader Cllr Richard Jones.

He suggested that where the council had set aside enough money to cover a 4% increase in teachers and education staff pay. As this is negotiated nationally, he proposed that if the pay award was less than 4%, the remainder of the money be moved into the schools budget.

Based on an estimated pay award of 2.8%, that would add around £600,000 to education in Flintshire next year.

“The reality is, we have to balance the budget,” said Shotton West Cllr Sean Bibby. “It is the responsibility of every single councillor sitting in this chamber to ensure we have a balanced budget so we can pay for the services and deliver them for the people.”