Councillors unite in call for ‘fair funding settlement’ after minimum allocation

A council which finished joint bottom of the Welsh local government funding pile has unanimously backed a call for a “fair settlement”. 

Monmouthshire will only see its award from the Welsh Government increase by the minimum 2.3 per cent “floor” in 2026/27 which puts it in joint 13th place with nine other councils.   

The formula used to distribute core funding to Wales 22 unitary authorities was however defended by Monmouthshire council’s deputy leader Paul Griffiths though he said a tweak is required. 

Neighbouring Newport City Council finished top of the funding table with an increase of 4.3 per cent. Blaenau Gwent was next best placed Gwent authority, with the third highest percentage increase, at 3.3 per cent, while Torfaen got a three per cent rise and Caerphilly 2.6 per cent. 

Conservative councillor Tomos Davies put forward a motion to Monmouthshire December meeting which urged its Labour leader Mary Ann Brocklesby to “press Welsh Government colleagues to deliver a fair funding settlement for” the council. 

The Llanfoist and Govilon councillor described Monmouthshire’s increase as “measly” and said greater support from the Welsh Government would allow the council to do all it could to keep any council tax rise “to a minimum” in the new year. 

Conservative member for Gobion Fawr Alistair Neill backed the motion and highlighted Monmouthshire’s medium term financial plan, through to 2030, has a £35 million funding gap while the county’s school’s are on course for a combined deficit of nearly £7m this year. 

He said the motion would support Cllr Brockelsby to argue for “stronger support” from the Welsh Government and he highlighted other councils have large reserves while Monmouthshire’s are towards the minimum levels. 

The funding formula was also criticised as “unfair” by Green Party councillor Ian Chandler who sits in the Labour council cabinet. 

That prompted deputy leader Cllr Griffiths to speak out as he said he expected “continuous repetition that funding for Monmouthshire is unjust and unfair” from what he called the “usual voices” but was surprised at Cllr Chandler. 

Labour’s Cllr Griffiths, a former special advisor to the Welsh Government and a head of corporate affairs for the Welsh Local Government Association in the 1990s, said he’d been defending the formula for around 40 years. 

He said it is “dynamic” and introduced by former Conservative Welsh Secretary Nicholas Edwards, andwhile it recognises need, deprivation and how dispersed communities a council must serve are, it also based on how much each council can raise in tax. 

“It takes account of tax take, in Monmouthshire it is higher than anywhere else,” said Cllr Griffiths who added the county had the highest tax take and lowest need when the formula was devised in the 1980s and it remains so. 

But he said there is a “fixed cost” to running an authority and he said the Welsh Government should follow Scotland which has a mechanism to ensure all councils receive at least 80 per cent of their costs in central government funding. 

Shirenewton Conservative Louise Brown repeated she believes the Welsh formula is unfair and said: “I had hoped with this being a Labour administration this matter would have been solved.” 

The original motion brought by Cllr Davies had noted the UK Government’s budget which the Conservative described as requiring “difficult and unpalatable choices” but he said he welcomed elements such as an AI growth zone for South Wales. 

But his description of difficult choices angered Green Cllr Chandler who said “billionaires and polluters are never required to make difficult choices and contribute fairly to taxation”. The councillor who will be a Senedd candidate at May’s election made several criticisms of the budget. 

That prompted Conservative member for Devauden Rachel Buckler to say: “I do hope we’re not going to have to listen to months of election speeches from the Green Party’s Cllr Chandler as we’ll get sick of listening to them.” 

She also said local businesses would be “pretty upset” after the councillor responsible for finance, Cllr Ben Callard, said he took issue with Cllr Davies describing taxation as an “adverse impact”. 

Labour’s Cllr Callard said he was “happy to pay tax” for better public services and said councillors couldn’t call for more public spending but “bemoan tax increases to pay for it” adding: “If it cost me a couple more coffees a month it’s okay. It’s a privilege to pay tax.” 

Cllr Buckler said: “Local businesses will be pretty upset to hear a councillor describe tax as an extra couple of coffees.”