Lone Reform councillor proposes lower council tax rise in alternative budget

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Reform UK’s only councillor in a south Wales county borough put forward an alternative budget that offered to bring down the Council Tax hike from 3.75 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council on Thursday, March 5, councillors met to approve the budget for 2026/2027, which includes the Council Tax rise.

During the debate, Reform UK’s Jonathan Millard (Ebbw Vale South) took the opportunity to produce his alternative budget and explained how he would find over £300,000 in savings to bring the Council Tax increase down by just under a percentage point.

Cllr Millard said: “There is more that could be done to this budget and I’m willing to put various ideas to the floor.

“I would propose a Council Tax increase of just 2.8 per cent, with a rationale based on common sense principles without a penny from reserves.”

He believed that bringing the Council Tax down would save Band D property owners in Blaenau Gwent between £22 and £24 a year.

“Real money back in the pocket of hard-working people working in Blaenau Gwent,” said Cllr Millard.

Cllr Millard explained that he had a four-point plan to be able to do this.

Firstly, he would increase council fees and charges by four per cent “across the board” rather than the three per cent that had already been agreed by councillors – this would save £90,000.

Secondly, he would increase Trade Waste charges by 12 per cent, which would save a further £39,000.

£100,000 would be cut from the annual management fee the council gives Aneurin Leisure Trust (ALT).

The “back office” council functions would be merged with Torfaen Council and save a further £100,000.

Cllr Millard pointed out that ALT had been given several cash bailouts by the council over the years to keep it going.

Cllr Millard said: “The principal point of setting up the trust was to reduce the impact on council budgets.

“What I’m looking at through the federated model (with Torfaen) is moving back-office functions and merging positions such as HR, payroll and finance through natural attrition in those areas.”

He explained that this gave a saving of £329,000 and, as he was only looking for £302,000, gave him a “prudent” buffer of £27,000 to make the budget work.

Cllr Millard said: “So no asset sales, no raids on reserves, a value-for-money way forward, and it matters to our residents.

“In the last survey we did beyond The Deal, 83 per cent of residents said that they could not afford another big hike in taxes.”

Council Leader Cllr Steve Thomas (Tredegar) praised Cllr Millard for not going “near reserves” in his calculations but did not support the proposals.

Opposition Independent group leader, Cllr Wayne Hodgins (Brynmawr), said: “I’m quite astonished and dumbfounded that the Reform representative would want to increase the fees and charges on families that use our sport centres.

He also reminded the council that many local businesses rely on the council’s trade waste collection service.

Cllr Hodgins continued: “We’ve come on a long journey with ALT; it may not have been funded correctly from the outset, and hindsight is a great teacher.

“If you look at their annual account reports, slowly but surely they are turning the tide.”

He added that ALT is also playing a part in trying to entice more tourists to the county borough by making improvements to Parc Bryn Bach and Bedwellty House in Tredegar.

“They are trying to be a commercial business in very volatile times,” stressed Cllr Hodgins.

As nobody came forward to second Cllr Millard’s proposal, the alternative budget was not put to a vote.

ALT – which runs sports centres, libraries and parks in Blaenau Gwent – was formed in 2014.