National Park Authority in danger of going bust within three years

Elgan Hearn, Local democracy reporter

Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority (NPA) could go bust within three years, members have been warned.

At a national park authority meeting on Friday, March 27, members met to set the budget for 2026/2027, which shows that there will be a heavy reliance on using reserves to balance the books.

The national park authority requires £5.227 million to run its services but will only receive £4.528 million through the Welsh Government grant and local authority levy it receives.

This means it will need to dip into its reserves and fork out £699,000 to plug the gap for the forthcoming financial year.

The report shows that the issue could get progressively worse, with £985,000 predicted to be needed from reserves in 2027/2028 and a further £1.126 million in 2028/2029.

This would see the reserves it currently has of £2.3 million exhausted before setting the 2028/2029 budget.

Head of finance and s151 officer Richard Griffiths said: “The risks are significant, and the most significant one I see at the moment is inflation. We’re on the precipice of a really high inflationary period, and we need to be mindful of that.

“The other issue is our core funding and how that has been denuded over the last 15 years or so.

“We have this reliance on reserves to fund our operating deficits.”

Since 2010, the NPA has lost 53 per cent of its funding “in real terms.”

He explained the authority would need a 20 per cent core funding increase to get back to a balanced base budget position.

Mr Griffiths continued: “It’s rather worrying.

“The significance of this is that we would be unable to set a budget for 2028/2029 in the absence of additional core funding or other cost savings.

“A major piece of work is being undertaken to see how best we can manage those deficits.”

He hoped they would be able to “avert” the worst-case scenario.

Independent board member Professor John Hunt said: “How does our financial position sit in comparison with other national parks in Wales?”

Chief executive Catherine Mealing-Jones said: “We are in a structurally worse position; we don’t have the assets that the other two national parks do.

“We don’t have the commercial opportunities that the other two do.”

Independent board member the Reverend Canon Aled Edwards said: “We have been aware of these challenges for a while.

“We are not negligent; we know the challenges and will act when we have to.”

He added that he was comforted by the work that was already being done within the council to address the situation and that there was a “logic” in seeing what the priorities of the next government will be after the Senedd elections in May.

Cllr Huw Williams (Powys) said: “We are in this position through no fault of our own.

“We’ve been diligent and careful over the last couple of years, but it’s not sustainable to be using our reserves.

“It’s a difficult situation, but I’m confident we will address it for the sake of the park.”

Members went ahead and agreed the budget and noted the forecasts.